Loudspeaker

It was December of 1980. I was in the Navy, on a ship headed to the Persian Gulf. We were not at war, but it was only a few months after Iraq invaded Iran. Hostilities ran high in the Gulf, with underwater explosives deployed by both sides and plenty of aerial combat taking place in the skies.

The thought of spending Christmas away from home for the first time was on my mind. I had been fortunate the first several years of my enlistment, always being able to get leave during the holidays. But not this time.

As we steamed across the Atlantic, then the Mediterranean Sea, the days dragged on. This was before the days of “TV at Sea” and we weren’t able to get news very often. Usually just messages posted on a bulletin board from the Armed Forces Radio and Television Services. So we really didn’t know what was in store for us in the days and weeks ahead.

What we did know was that we were about to transit the Suez Canal, where we felt we were sitting ducks if someone decided to attack. With tension on the high side, we entered and exited the Canal with no issues. I think I can speak for our entire crew of about 300 men that we lost track of the date until we completed that Canal journey.

All of a sudden it was December 24th, and the sadness of being away from home once again set in. Then something wonderful happened. It was announced over the loudspeaker that there would be a Christmas Eve church service in the hangar bay (a place where a helicopter would normally be stored if we had one onboard). You could immediately see and feel the improved morale of the crew. Transiting the Red Sea with Egypt on one side and Israel on the other brought back so many memories of Bible stories I learned in Sunday School growing up in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

The ship’s Lay Leaders held a beautiful service with lots of singing of hymns and carols from mimeographed (remember those?) sheets of music. So many of the crew attended that the hangar bay doors had to be left open to accommodate all. It was the only ‘indoor/outdoor’ Christmas service I attended (until SUMC, that is!). It was heartwarming, and it brought the crew much closer for what was about to be a five-month extended cruise in the Persian Gulf.

Though many of us were feeling down, up to that point, the light shined brightly on the USS Koelsch that evening, and the Lord protected us the rest of the long journey. I pray that someday when you need comforting, a loudspeaker will sound for you, and you will be lifted up as I was on Christmas Eve in 1981. Amen.

-Jeff Lance