Press Release Summary = Jina Bacarr, author of The Blonde Geisha and Naughty Paris (July 2007) recalls a special Christmas Eve in Italy when she served with the U.S Army and how a little Italian boy made the soldiers\' Christmas special.
Press Release Body = Everybody wants to be home for Christmas. A crackling fire, the smell of a fresh Christmas tree, snow falling outside the window, and all kinds of goodies to eat and enjoy with family and friends. But this holiday season soldiers serving in the U.S. military will be far from home.
\"I remember when I was stationed overseas at Christmas on a small military base in Italy used as an R&R stop for many combat veterans,\" says Jina Bacarr, video podcaster for \"Romancing The O.C.\" \"As one field commander said, \'The men have forgotten how to smile.\' \"
Jina wanted to do something to bring up their spirits so on Christmas Eve she invited the local Italian Catholic Boys\' Orphanage to share the holiday spirit with the soldiers. She decorated the community center with a big Christmas tree and festive trimmings and made Christmas cookies, but the spirit in the center was anything but Christmas-like.
\"The Italian kids sat quietly on one side of the room and the soldiers on the other. No one said a word,\" she remembers. \"These combat veterans had no idea how to communicate with the little boys speaking only Italian and closely supervised by the stern nuns. To make matters worse, someone had raided the cookie platter and spilled them all over the kitchen floor. Suddenly a nun rushed up to me and whispered in my ear: \'Signorina, Daniele is missing!\' \"
When she told the soldiers about the missing 3-year old, they went into action. They could relate to a missing comrade in any language and organized a search party. The mood was tense, but an hour later they found Daniele sitting under a pool table and munching on a cookie. A loud cheer went up from the men with the orphans joining in. \"Each soldier had a grin bigger than the guy next to him,\" Jina says. \"I\'ll never forget those smiles. For many of the men, that Christmas Eve was their first step toward home.\"
So this Christmas, Jina urges, don\'t forget the men and women serving overseas in the U.S. military. Send them books, cookies, socks, and the most important thing of all: Support for the great job they\'re doing.
Check out Jina\'s video podcast \"Santa, Soldiers, and Orphans, oh my!\" at: http://www.dailymotion.com/discussed/Jina_B/video/xq8mx_santa-soldiers-and-orphans-oh-my
2012
