Christmas time is upon us again and the Christmas chorals are going strong. There is one song I still have trouble listening to, Silent Night. I the later days of December 1967, I was stationed in Viet-Nam, 2/9. I had been in sickbay for a back injury. I got carried away and filled over 100 sand bags in to short a time.
Anyway, it was a chilly night and a rather dark one. The time was about deep dark 30. Someone in another hooch had started playing a guitar. He was pretty good and soon started playing a selection of Christmas songs. When he started Silent Night I could voices from the darkness singing. It wasn’t a large group, just one or two from a hooch here and there. The place was pretty empty for most of the unit was on Hill 881.
After the song finished there came a voice from off in the distance, “Play it again”. This time it was slower and the voices seemed to crack at times. Myself, I had something in my eye and could not say the words. The silence after the song was over was unreal. Again, from off in the distance came a voice, ” God Bless Us All. May We Live Through The Night”. The song has never been the same since. I guess the meaning it had that night will never be repeated and I still have a hard time listening to it, even today. But like the voice said, ” God Bless Us All. May We Live Through The Night”
John Halpin
2/9
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