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The Cantori choir and Eileen Nelson Ness, as usual, presented an outstanding Christmas concert, and it really started me thinking about what our military sacrifice as they serve our country. One of the songs performed was “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” written in 1943, in the midst of World War II. The last verse is, “I’ll be home for Christmas if only in my dreams.”

I had been married only six months when I was on board the USS Bexar in port in Beppu, Japan. We had just delivered 2,000 Marines to Inchon, Korea. It was my first and only Christmas away from home, and I was a sick sailor, missing my wife and family. But that was a minor inconvenience compared to the men and women, in 1943, who spent three or four years fighting the Germans and Japanese. Over 400,000 never did return as they gave their lives protecting our freedom. We lost 36,000 in Korea and 58,000 in Vietnam. We have been very fortunate that these conflicts have been on other continents, and General Powell, when asked by the Bishop of Canterbury how much land the U.S. would take, replied, “only enough to bury our dead.’

We still have over a million men and women who were not able to be home for Christmas. When you sat down for your holiday meal and you prayed and thanked God for giving us Jesus, I hope you also prayed for our service personnel, who are away serving their country and protecting our freedoms.

American Legion Post 56 welcomes anyone to visit our freedom hall and help keep our flag flying high.

Al Arends
Albert Lea