In 1965, it was Advent and
Christmas was coming soon. I expected to
eat in the mess hall in Baumholder, Germany, where I was stationed. Granted the Army food was always fantastic for
holidays, but it was still in a mess hall with hundreds of GIs.
A few days before the Christmas
feast, Sergeant Major Maine asked personnel in the Orderly Room and in the
other offices of 565 Medical Company to his apartment, where his wife and family
would make us feel more like home. We all happily accepted, and on the
day of the event, an Army truck arrived to take us to his place. It was the same
truck, I might add, that often took us on 3 a.m. alerts, two-week “tent city” field
problems and a prisoner of war simulation.
What a strange ride, but what a
happy one. We enjoyed their hospitality for an afternoon I will never forget. Turkey and all the trimmings plus conversation,
laughter and camaraderie greeted me like I was not a draftee in the Army, but
in a friendly home away from home for a few hours. Psalm 126:2 “Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’”
This was the only Christmas that I have ever been away from my own family.
I will
always honor Sergeant Major Maine and his family for their act of kindness,
friendship, integrity, and real Christian compassion in the real world.
The Christian spirit abounded. This one man and his family, who took time
from
their busy lives to make ours feel a little better, enlarged
my definition of hope.
Dick Stahl, a former Central High School English teacher, is
a member of St. Paul.
