The White Falcon - 24.12.1943, Page 1

Vol. V. ICELAND, Friday, December 24, m3. No. U.
Christmas Thoughts
’Twas the night before Christmas
and the air was still.
The moon’s ray glistened from
a snow-capped hill.
A barbed wire fence my post did enclose,
And the frost of Iceland played tricks
with my nose.
★
The shadows of huts loomed large
’gainst the white,
While smoke from chimneys blended
into the night.
’Twas a night for the soul, standing
there... .alone,
But the vision is lost when the heart is at home.
★
My thoughts traveled backward
’mid tinseled trees,
Filled stockings and toys, and things
such as these,
Then I’d take my weary step up anew
And shake from my mind the things I once knew.
Someone’s path lay before me so clear
in the snow
And I tried to match footprints so no one
would know.
*
But the mind is a thing that you can’t put aside —
It echoes of passions, laying deep down inside.
The reason you’re walking in far lands tonight;
The reason you’re lonely and ready to fight.
It tells of your mother, your sweetheart or wife—
For their hopes and fears, you’d lay down
your life.
★
Then a snowflake falls and it’s followed
by friends,
It’s hard to see where the path starts or ends.
But of these things I no longer care,
For Angels are singing—
There’s Peace in the air.
T/5 Charles S. Hess.
General Key:
TO: The Officers, Nurses, Enlisted
Men, Civilian Employees of the
United States Army Forces, and
the Red Cross personnneL
★ ★ ★
As the Christmas Season approaches, we can
look back on a momentous year which saw
the United Nations advance in conclusive strides
toward victory. Troops in Iceland contributed
to that progress by their spirit and thorough-
ness in performing duties in many respects more
exacting than actual combat on the battlefields.
You are to be commended for your perse-
verance and cheerful cooperation in brushing
aside the hardships and privations of Arctic
service. Despite the severity of weather and
endless hours of employment, you have accom-
plished the misson assigned you—keeping the
sea lanes in the North Atlantic open to Allied
shipping in the face of stiffening enemy U-boat
activity.
Now we must gird our resources for another
year, perhaps the decisive one which will re-
turn us victoriously to our families and friends.
That, of course, is a matter of conjecture, but
we must maintain our vigilance without falter-
ing. The Iceland Base Command’s motto, "Al-
ways Alert,’’ typifies the task before us.
I wish you one and all a Happy Christmas
and a season of good cheer for you and your
loved ones at home. As the New Year looms
ahead I express the fervent hope which burns
in the heart of every American; that it may
bring an end to hostilities and an opportunity
for peoples everywhere to live in peace with-
out fear of aggression or persecution.
WM. S. KEY,
Major General, U.S. Army
Commanding IBC.