Newspapers / Mars Hill University Student … / April 1, 1954, edition 1 / Page 7
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!\/i-arrh S uuiiji^ uie montn ot iviarcn ■m -- >* e t lie td rt ai o :h o V e Operation Christmas It was a dark, cold night on December 25th in Korea. There were six of us marines huddled around that little potbellied stove in the squad tent. It was one of the coldest nights that we had seen thus far. We could hear the sound of the shells and the planes off in the distance. Those were the only sounds, for there wasn’t anyone in the tent that felt much like talk ing. EJZJUuzfimmmiEJEiifEmmrirEiir Joe Sanders siHjiramjEiEramjEJHrarajHfSfimmf HILLTOP—PAGE SIX I guess all the men were think ing about the same thing that I was at the time. The thoughts of all of us were at home. What were the folks having for Christmas din ner, and what would the kids be getting? We all knew that this might be our last Christmas, for this was a tough patrol mission that we were going out on. We knew all this when we took the job though. ' As I looked around the tent, I noticed that most of the men had finished their smokes, and I told the rest of the men to put their cigarettes out and get ready to move out. We were scared; there was no use in trjdng to hide it. But most men going into battle are. I knew these men of mine, and I knew that they had the stuff that was needed for the mission before them. They were rough and ready soldiers, but a man isn’t kept from being scared, just be cause he has experienced battle be fore. Each time that he faces the enemy he is scared. As I started to move out of the tent one of the men asked, “Sergeant, don’t you think that we had better have a little prayer service before we go out on this mission?” I turned to the boy and answered that I thought that would be a good idea. I stepped back into the tent and got down on my knees. I asked one of the fellows to start the prayer, and each one to sav what he had on his mind. Afterward I would close it. That night I heard some of the most earnest prayers I have ever heard in my life. Then we moved into the night. We had blacked our faces so that we could not be spotted easily by the enemy. It was a very dark night anyway. All thoughts of home were gone now, and in their place was the conviction that we had a job to do. Everyone wanted to get out there, get it done, and get back with his life. Each one knew what his job would be j we had been over the details a thou sand times since that first day that the commander had told us about our job. It was a dangerous one all right. We called it “Operation Christmas” because of the day that it was to fall on. It really would be a merry Christmas if we all came back alive. I thought now of just how we were going to get in there and get out again without losing our heads. Our “Operation Christmas” was to go into an enemy encampment and destroy everything that we could in the way of supplies. The}^ had a couple of oil towers and a large supply of munitions that we especially wanted to make Christ mas fireworks of. We hoped that we could succeed in doing this without losing any of our “Santa Clauses.” As we neared the enemy camp, I halted the men and went over with them again each step of the plan. We were all set. I moved out first, and the men were to fol low me at two minute intervals. We intended to surround the camp and come into it from all sides at exactly the same hour. We alre.iuy had synchronized our club at the Province Workshop to ^ tt/ watches. I reached my positiof and waited for the “zero hour. , It finally came, and I edged m! jj | way forward along the icy, col^ . ground. I dared not make a sourKj^-^ for fear that it would be my last When I found the oil tower I was looking for, Mike was ready there waiting for me wit^ his share of the dynamite. We sc our little surprise all around base of the tower and waited the second zero hour. When the time came, we start (Jj-g. ed to move back the same way thasens we had come in. Mike was pullinivivi behind him the wires necessary t'not set off the explosives. When we alan i met back at the predesignat^'ragf point, we would have our Christhop( mas explosions. The other foUShe fellows had been setting some firtswei works of their own. These firteyes works however came in a littiderl larger package than those we n been used to back home. Th^sj^jj^ made more noise too. Wat We all reached our meetiit;'^itl place safely, each one stringing wires behind him. We hookrjng them up to the main switch boj’ato and then drew straws to see whk*^®^l one would be the lucky one * I push down the plunger on the bowsaw I won. I stepped up to the bdanc and pushed the plunger down. She have never seen a more beauti^^nsy display of fireworks than those *nodi towers and munitions blowing i high. The enem}^ didn’t kno’^wir what had hit them. We all made it back to cart ,Wen peau safely that night and went ba to our tent and had another service to thank God for guidif^j^^, us back safely to our own camp- qq| >he Sunset: A maze of beautif‘/^£j. color—red and pink with toucl|jgj.j, of yellow and blue — filling western sky with a soft, waf. glow, as purple shades of twilWn Steal quietly and peacefullv o'dj the earth. ‘ —Gena Jo Fant- I Z Z-
Mars Hill University Student Newspaper
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April 1, 1954, edition 1
7
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