Photo By Scott Sturkol | A scene from the 2024 Fort McCoy Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony is shown Dec. 5,...... read more read more
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Fort McCoy held its 2024 Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on Dec. 5 at McCoy’s Community Center at the installation with hundreds of post members joining in on the official kickoff of the December holiday season.
The event included the tree lighting, crafts for families and children, and much more, and the event was coordinated by the Fort McCoy Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation (DFMWR).
DFMWR Business and Recreation Division Chief Karla Rynes emceed the event at McCoy’s and she was like many in Fort McCoy’s 110-year-plus history who led a similar celebration for the holidays.
“Tonight, as we gather together to celebrate the holiday season, it’s time to come together as a community and spread joy, warmth, and cheer,” Rynes said Dec. 5. “It is truly a pleasure to see so many faces, both who live here and new, as we gather to kick off the holiday season as we light this beautiful tree tonight.”
Eighty years ago, in December 1944, the nation was at war and the celebration of Christmas and the holiday season seemingly served as a source of hope and optimism for the future.
“As our nation enters the fourth wartime Christmas, the outlook is definitely brighter,” wrote Col. George M. MacMullin in the Dec. 23, 1944, edition of The Real McCoy newspaper at then-Camp McCoy. “Our hopes are higher as a result of brilliant victories on land, on the sea, and in the air in all theaters of action. There is promise of even greater triumphs to come, decisions which we hope will bring the final victory for which all of us have been praying and striving.
“We at Camp McCoy can derive great satisfaction from our role in the war to date,” MacMullin wrote. “The service forces here have helped maintain, develop, and train some of America’s finest fighting units, many of them now serving on the battlefronts all over the globe.
“We are accelerating our efforts to keep the nation’s war machine geared in high. Our men and women are training for action against the enemy, our shops are speeding repairs on war vehicles urgently needed by frontline troops and all of us are buying bonds with which to finance this greatest of struggles,” MacMullin wrote.
“Some of the bitterest fighting lies ahead,” he wrote. “Hundreds of thousands of our comrades in arms are destined to fall are ‘Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men’ becomes a reality. Complete victory is still far off. Let us gird for the trying days ahead, confident victory will be ours. The staff joins me in wishing each and everyone of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Victorious New Year.”
In December 1952, when Camp McCoy was at its height of training Soldiers to fight in the Korean War, Post Commander Col. H. R. Statham also gave holiday greetings at a time Americans were fighting overseas again less than a decade after the end of World War II.
“I wish to extend, to the men and women of Camp McCoy and their families, my most cordial greetings for the Christmas season,” Statham wrote in the Dec. 19, 1952, edition of The Camp McCoy News, which later went back to being named The Real McCoy.
“The holiday should mean more to us than just gifts and well wishing,” he wrote. “It is the anniversary of the Birth of Christ and a time for both remembrance of our Christian heritage
and personal inspiration. It is in this spirit that I hope Christmas this year may especially bring to each of us a renewal of our faith and together with it inspiration of hope for a lasting peace and
brotherhood among our fellow men.”
In that same 1952 edition, troops were told to “Play it safe over Christmas,” and the article mentioned what was taking place on post.
“In accordance with the general policy adapted by Department of the Army regarding Christmas furloughs, the majority of troops stationed at Camp McCoy will be with their families for the holidays festivities.
“Training at Camp McCoy has been suspended from 20 December to 5 January,” the article states. “In most units one-half of the personnel will be permitted leaves over Christmas, with
the remainder taking their leave over the New Years Day period. For those remaining on the
post, a number of activities are planned to promote the Christmas Spirit.
“Service Club No. 3 in addition to carrying on its normally scheduled program, plans several special events as outlined on page three. The NCO Club expects to continue operating as in the past. The club will open daily at 1130 hours during the non-training period.”
Forty years ago in December 1984, Fort McCoy employees took time out to celebrate the holidays during a Saturday evening Christmas party on post. A photo with Garrison Commander Col. Bill Sorenson playing guitar and singing with others is in the Dec. 13, 1984, edition of The Triad newspaper.
“Approximately 150 Fort McCoy employees and guests sang Christmas carols, led by … Col. Bill Sorenson, post commander, Maj. Barry Tilton, visiting from Fort Sheridan, Ill.; Capt. Jerome Roberts, Morale Support Officer, and Maj. Kenneth Derringer, DPCA, during the annual Fort McCoy Christmas party Saturday evening.”
In December 2004, during the time Fort McCoy was busy supporting training again — this time for the Global War on Terrorism with a mobilization mission, the garrison commander at that time offered words of holiday remembrance.
In a message entitled, “A wish for a happy, safe holiday season for all,” Garrison Commander Col. Danny G. Nobles described the importance of what McCoy was doing, and more.
“For the better part of the last two years, Fort McCoy has been on a war-footing pace — an operational tempo that has been sustained on a level unlike anything we have experienced in recent history,” Nobles wrote in the Dec. 10, 2004, edition of The Triad. “And, due to the concerted effort of the Fort McCoy work force — military, civilian, tenant and contractor
— we have succeeded at every level. The diverse composition of the team involved has served to
strengthen our ability to do our mission and our appreciation of one another.
“As we prepare to celebrate the holiday season, we can look back knowing that we have done our very best to ensure that each Soldier who deployed from here had the very best equipment, the very best training and the best-possible leadership available to them. All of our efforts have helped to ensure that these Soldiers are successful in the mission they are being sent to do, and then, as importantly, when that mission is completed, return home safely to their families.
“I ask that each of us pause to remember — in thought, prayer and with a sense of deep gratitude — those Soldiers who will be far from family and friends as they serve the needs of our nation. We are a rushed society, at best. Despite the business of the holiday season, it is a prime opportunity for each of us to slow down to take time to reflect on what we are most thankful for and what is most important to us. ‘Goodwill toward man’ is more than a phrase from a Christmas carol. It is a way of life. The holiday season is a perfect time for us to remember that there are good people all across the globe. In looking at the war-torn places in the world, it sometimes seems that there could be no goodness there.
But at the same time, when you begin to deal with the people of these nations, the fundamental goodness becomes evident, regardless of society. That is why what the U.S. Army does is so
important — giving people the opportunity to enjoy the same basic freedoms that we do. They may not have the same form of government or the same political aspirations or quality of life that we have as an industrialized nation, but our efforts are giving them the opportunity to be free, to work, to hope, and to dream to be the best they can be.”
Whether it’s 1944, 1952, 1984, or 2024, the spirit of the holidays and the realization of the important missions that have been a part of Fort McCoy’s history have been the tradition remembered every December.
“We truly appreciate your generosity and commitment to make Fort McCoy such a vibrant place for all of us,” Rynes said to the 2024 event crowd. “To all of our military families, thank you for your service and sacrifice. … We celebrate more than just the holidays. We celebrate our strong sense of community, the bonds we share, and the spirit of giving that makes this time of year so special.”
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy,” on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/fortmccoywi, and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@fortmccoy.
Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
| Date Taken: | 12.20.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.20.2024 16:00 |
| Story ID: | 488152 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 35 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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