Two Christmases in one year

Our son Don reminisced the other day that it sure was an odd Christmas that time when Santa was supposed to come twice in the same year and dad was there for both of them. It has only been some 53 years ago but evidently, some events get burned into a five-year-old’s mind.

It was the 22nd of December 1967. The War in Vietnam was going hot and heavy. My crew was tasked for a fighter drag departing in the morning. Stationed in Oklahoma at the time we had three young children at home. Our youngest was three years old. Christmas was coming and what to do about Santa coming with daddy gone. Magically Kris Kringle did arrive in the night of the 22nd with a happy dad and mom present for the big opening of gifts the next morning. Presents and both parents present for a big holiday breakfast and then dad headed for the flight line. Not too unusual for young parents raising their family on a military base.

The plan was a short flight to Riverside, California where we spent the night for crew rest. Early on the 23rd we launched along with two other KC-135s and their crews from other bases. The plan was to rendezvous with twelve, two-man crew, F-4’s on their way to bases in Thailand to participate in the war. We met them off the coast of Northern California and provided navigation assistance and fuel across the Pacific to Hawaii. It was about a nine-hour flight. We all safely made the trip and spent the night at Hickam Air Force Base.

Next morning, it was Christmas Eve day, the gaggle of us fifteen aircraft launched and flew on to Guam. Now overwater and out of sight of land we tankers are the best buddies of those fighter aircraft. We are their lifeline that is until they get navigation log-on for their destination. Topped off with gas it is so long tanker as they cruise faster than the big old four-engine beast we were flying. From Guam, it was a short hop to Okinawa and the fighters no longer needed us so we just flew on to Okinawa dreaming of a nice long crew rest at Kadena Air Base. It was Christmas Day, the 25th as we had crossed over the International Date Line where the world’s days begin. We had been told that we would be flying back home in a couple of days and looked forward to resting and leisurely sightseeing.

That was not to be. A tanker, one from our Squadron back home, was waiting for my crew to board and head east. That crew, from a different Squadron, was going home after a sixty-day temporary deployment to the war zone just as we had done earlier that same year. We crawled into the spacious but Spartan backend along with our gear and headed back to Hickam as deadhead passengers. Again it was the 24th on the calendar as we landed in our furthest west state.

Have you ever been in the tropics at Christmas time? Back home there was snow on the ground and the light displays told one that it was the Christmas season. Strolling through the open-air terminal there in Hawaii it seemed a bit strange as we got out of the aircraft to stretch our legs while it was being refueled. Somehow it just doesn’t seem right to be in shirtsleeve weather and see palm trees with lighted wreaths on them.

At Hickam, our fair bird refueled and ready to go with a Clinton Sherman crew that had come in the day before to have their crew rest. Off we went headed back home to arrive on Christmas Eve. We bedraggled passengers in the back slept as best we could but we had been up a lot of hours with no good bed nor shower. Talk about tired!

Annie with our three young ones met us back at our Oklahoma base and we enjoyed Christmas Eve together again. Somehow Santa didn’t come again that next morning but Grannie (to be) fixed another celebratory dinner that second Christmas Day. Ah the life of a military crew member.

Looking at the world of politics it appears to me that the next four years with Biden and Harris at the helm is going to be a real tumulus trial for this country. Biden with his alleged corruption with the Communist Party of China plus his cabinet picks that also don’t seem to understand the seriousness of our relations with what that country intent on usurping our status as leader of the world has in store for us. I’ll probably not live to see the socialistic demise of this wonderful country but I pray for my children and their children. I fear that our downfall under the new progressive Democrat Party will make the good life we are living today become a distant memory. Yes, my Trump flag still flies upside down as a statement of distress and I still hold a little bit of hope that the voter fraud can be documented and he rightfully will be reinstated for a second term.

It is kind of a sad thought for this Christmas season and it is probably best to just enjoy the decorations, the carols and our families in what is yet a happy time. Bless you, all and have a Merry Christmas.

That is the way I see it.

Dick Trail