An Old Soldier's Christmas
Story & Photos by SPC Charles Ames - Posted Dec, 1999
An hour or two outside of Puget Sound, about halfway between Tacoma and Mount Rainier, you turn off at a sign that reads "Pizza, Burgers, Pasta & Ice Cream Restaurant". Meander down Calistoga Avenue, over the Puyallup River, and pert’ near the end of the road, you come to the Washington Soldier’s Home in Orting. Out here the squirrels routinely accost everyone for the peanuts given by a few residents. At the rate they bury the peanuts for winter, it is a miracle the facility is not overrun with peanut bushes.
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To this serene setting comes a motorcade filled with young soldiers - brand new soldiers, in fact. They are here to visit some of our country's oldest soldiers.
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Today these old soldiers join with the volunteer workers that staff their home to partake of the Christmas cheer brought in by this crowd of boisterous recruits. To the seniors this is more than Christmas cheer. This is the promise that comes with each new generation of soldiers. They bring the confirmation to these oldest soldiers that they were not the last to answer the call of their country... that there is now and always will be a strong and steady presence at our gate... that we will always be free.
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The young soldiers poured from the vans and cars and "formed up" under the watchful eye of a few not-so-new soldiers - the Sergeants in charge of this Christmas mission. They headed for their first destination - Chilson Recreation Hall. SGT Llewellyn Chilson, was a resident of Tacoma, not to mention one of the most highly decorated soldiers of WWII. His name is noted in several locations throughout the grounds. People stand proudly next to his statue to have their picture taken and our crowd is no exception.
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Pvt. Alyson Ramos recently returned from basic training at Fort Jackson, SC. Next summer she’s off to her Military Occupational Skill (MOS) training as a Medical Supply technician. But today she was leading the charge as her group takes the Home by storm. She is mindful of where these residents have been and where she is going. Of the visits, she said "…it’s about veterans. I was expecting everyone to want to talk and tell stories, and they did; that was really cool." Ramos falls silent a few seconds and with a catch in her breath, intimates, "One… just said to ‘stay pretty’."
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Volunteer worker - and our groups guide - Mary Jarvis may be the spunkiest resident of the Orting Old Soldiers Home. She was one of the first women in the Women's Army Corps, back in '45. "I was a 'technician', but now you would call them a medic." When asked her thoughts on these young soldiers impact on her "barracks" seeking recipients for their hand-wrapped gifts, Mary responds, "Oh, I think it's wonderful. There are so many residents here that don't have anybody to come out. There's one that's been here five years and he's never had a visitor."
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Micah Juma is a freshman at Evergreen State College and is on a scholarship studying pre-med. She is scheduled to begin her training in May of 2000. She will become an Intelligence Analyst. Juma’s no-nonsense approach disguises a warm heart. "It was all touching, all of it - just seeing these people. The highlight for me was seeing a 90-year-old man walking around like he was 10! To know he went through WWI and WWII, and lived through it… I'd love to just sit and listen to his stories." But all too soon the young Santa’s have delivered gifts, take their pictures, compared stories, and boarded their sleighs for the ride back home… and another holiday tradition is born.
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