Dec 20, 2017 5 min read

This time of year brings back many memories. My best one happened in 1969. I have had quite a few over the years but let me start with my best memory.

In July of 69 I returned to the states. I was stationed at Blytheville AFB Arkansas. In September I re upped and was sent to Barksdale AFB Louisiana TDY for school.

Needless to say that quite a bit of fun was had from September to November that year, oh yes I did learn a bit about a missile that was carried on B-52’s.

Now I have the start point let us continue with my best Christmas ever.

It was Dec. 23 and I was about to head home for the first time in 4 years for Christmas. Now not to make the trip home alone I had met a Nurse at Barksdale AFB who was from New York City and hadn’t been home in some time also.

It took a little planning but she would fly into Memphis Tennessee and I would meet her there and we would start our journey to the north.

The trip started rather mundane and then the snow started. It was nice snow at first but by the time we hit St Louis and headed east on I-70 the little dainty snow had turned into a howling blizzard.

It was about 1 AM when Jo Ann and I spotted a Marine hitch hiking in the beams of our head lights.

There he was in summer weight uniform in the middle of a snow storm on I-70 with his thumb out.

I stopped as any GI would do for another and asked him if he knew how to drive a stick shift. (You must understand I had been awake for about 24 hours) Yes he did and we started on our way to Effingham Illinois.

I must say that I-70 was sort of open one lane in each direction. We were wondering why he would be dressed in summer weight uniform in December? Well Johnny (I can’t remember his name for sure) had just flown in from Guantanamo Bay Cuba to surprise his family for Christmas. We followed a snow plow for miles on end.

Well we got to the exit for Effingham and proceeded down the snow packed streets until we came to a nice home. It was about 4 AM when we arrived at the front door. Now we decided that Johnny should go first since it was his home.

Well he rang the door bell several times, then a light came on and a voice rang out JOHNNY IS HOME!

Boy then all the lights came on and you never saw so many brothers and sisters come out of the woodwork. Mom made us breakfast and we sat down at a picnic table and there still wasn’t room for everyone.

Yes that was my best Christmas ever.

We did make it to Grindstone and Jo Ann met my family. My grandfather liked her. Then my dad and I took her to the airport in Pittsburgh so that she could spend Christmas at home (did I mention she was Jewish).

As we left the airport I closed my eyes on Christmas Eve and slept the final leg to my home.

A few days ago I wrote about my best memory of Christmas. After I sent it to Uniontown paper I figured why not send it to the newspaper in Effingham Ill. I thought what a trip if that Marine would still be there.

It was too long for a letter to the editor so I sent it to the editor and asked him if he would print it. Well he did under the title The Marine hitchhiking home in a blizzard for Christmas 1969. Well the editor added the words that should “Johnny” or someone from his family please contact the paper.

Well after a few day’s I got a call from that editor. Bill’s sister had called in to the paper and gave him her brother’s phone number. It seems Johnny in my story was really Bill! He now lived in Edwardsville not far from were we picked him up 47 years ago. He was one of 13 children. The editor asked me why that stuck in my mind. I guess when we were on the front porch and Bill rang the doorbell and a light came on and then we heard its Bill and then all the lights came on and kids started coming out of the woodwork.

That is why it was my best.

This evening I called Bill. And he added some personal touches to the story that only he would know. He remembers standing along I-70 with the snow swirling all round him and freezing when I stopped and gave him a lift.

After all these years we swapped stories traded e-mails. Almost 50 years had passed and two old men remember the events of a single Christmas so long ago with such clarity. It is truly a special time of year.

Col George Kovach

Sterling, Va. (Formally of Grindstone)