Everett Taylor: Taylor's Yarns

By EVERETT TAYLOR

Christmas is a special time when the memory tends to wander through the years of total experience.

For the very young, this might be only a year or two of Christmas experiences to filter through. For the more mature, it can be a lot of Dec. 25 memories, and if they date back more than half a century there could be a tendency for them to intermix.

It becomes difficult to sort which Christmas a certain memory was created. This can be complicated further because for those who celebrate the true Christmas, every year the holiday is overflowing with special meaning no matter the surroundings.

So if someone is asked to recall their “favorite” Christmas, that might be an impossible assignment. But a lot of people may remember certain years when the holiday was observed under unusual circumstances.

The year 1945 was a special one for members of the United States armed forces because it marked the end of hostilities in World War II. The Japanese signed their unconditional surrender agreement on Aug. 15.

For a lot of the veterans who had been in the military several of the war years, they got to celebrate Christmas at home again. Other, younger enlistees found themselves moving into post-war overseas assignments that would keep them on duty several more months.

One such assignment area was South Korea, where United States troops were sent in starting in September to displace Japanese troops that had been occupying that territory before the war ended.

A group of 6,000 American troops was assembled in San Francisco in early October to board the USS Grant, an ocean liner that had been transformed into a troop ship during the war. It wasn’t originally designed to carry more than a fraction of that number of passengers, of course, so to say it was a close-quarters trip is an extreme understatement.

Finding a spot on the upper deck where one could enjoy fresh air was tremendous and, if the weather was good, take in the awesome spectacle of a seemingly endless mass of sparkling blue water in all directions.

The only stop before reaching the final destination of Inchon, Korea, was in Japan’s Yokohama Bay where the gaping young soldiers were treated to a view of what appeared to be just about every ship in the massive American fleet.

Aircraft carriers, destroyers, cruisers and battleships, including the USS Missouri on which the unconditional surrender of Japan had been officially sealed a few days earlier, covered the harbor area as far as the eye could see.

Early the next morning, the trip resumed and the ship, accompanied by a couple of destroyers and a minesweeper to help avoid an encounter with some of the lingering mines the Japanese had spread through those waters, soon reached Inchon. At that time it was a city of more than a million people with no sewer system.

The troops disembarked and were trucked to their new home, called ASCOM City, a few miles from Inchon. It was there they spent Christmas of 1945.

Far away from home and in a land that remained primitive in many ways, the Christmas spirit still was strongly experienced by the GIs. At the camp, there were some Christmas trees, and special services conducted.

Helping make it more memorable, there was snow.

On Christmas Eve, as the activities died down, soldiers began to get quiet and a little sentimental, thinking of home and family and being so far away on the holiday.

At just about the stroke of midnight, whistles began blowing and duty officers began shouting for everybody to get dressed, get their rifles and be on the parade grounds post haste.

There had been a few incidents of conflict in recent days, and two U.S. military policemen had been killed in nearby Seoul, so there was some tension. Riot control had been emphasized in recent special training.

Soon the troops were all lined up, rifles in hand but with no ammunition, ready for whatever action was required. There they stood for about 30 minutes in the cold and snow. Then an officer called them to attention and told them they were dismissed to go back to bed.

Apparently this was a Christmas Eve routine other American troops in different areas experienced some years during the war. Perhaps the idea was to get the soldiers’ minds off of home and Christmas.

It didn’t do that, of course. As the familiar song says, “I’ll be home for Christmas … if only in my dreams.” But the experience did confirm that Christmas is a special holiday and special season no matter where one might be.

As for picking a favorite Christmas, it always seems to be the one being celebrated this year.

Everett Taylor
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