By Gerald McGill

Christmas Day 1967 found us aboard the USCGC Point Welcome (WPB 82329) on patrol in the South China Sea about sixty miles south of Danang. This was usually a quiet area as there were no significant rivers in the coastline.

At approximately noon, everyone gathered together and I took a picture of the crew. We were proudly flying our best American flag, but just above it, at the top of the mast, you can see a 3-foot artificial Christmas tree.  We had mounted the tree on top of our radar transmitter which was constantly rotating 360 degrees (full circle) so that our radar screen would show any vessels in the vicinity.  Surprisingly, there were none that day, not even fishing vessels.

My electronics Technician (ET) had rigged the lights on the tree so that they would stay on unless we turned them off.  We ran them from about one week before Christmas until New Year’s Day, but only when we were underway.

At about 1300 we gathered on the mess deck for Christmas dinner. It wasn’t a formal dress affair but we did have turkey, dressing, and all the trimmings. Our cook is on the left in his white T shirt.  The other person on the right in the same attire is my Executive Officer, Lt (jg) Paul Froehler.

We gave Thanks and dug in. Christmas came even in the South China Sea.