Earl Freudenberg: Christmas, 50 Years Ago

“There’s No Place like Home for the Holidays” is definitely one of my favorite Christmas songs. It was originally recorded in November, 1954, by Perry Como.

RCA Victor sent a rush release to radio stations across the United States and it became an instant hit. It has remained a Christmas favorite since first being recorded in the mid 50s.

The song takes on new meaning if one is away from home during Christmas. This writer spent two seasons away from Chattanooga, with only the telephone and mail as a reminder of what was going on back home.

There are many special holiday memories of those days in the early 70s. This writer joined the U.S. Army in November, 1970, but was able to come home for Christmas. However, the next two seasons were very different.

Julie and I were married Jan. 4, 1971. After basic training she joined me at Fort Jackson, S.C., and we spent Christmas together, away from home. Living on a soldiers pay was a challenge, but we saved up enough money to purchase a live Christmas tree from the Columbia, S.C. farmers market. We found some lights and ornaments on sale at a Roses dime store. The nearby Green Street United Methodist Church made us feel welcome as Christmas day approached. That year, a Merry Christmas came a month late, Feb. 1, 1972, with the birth of a healthy baby girl, Amy, at the Fort Jackson, S.C. hospital.

A couple of months after Amy was born, this G.I. received orders for Vietnam, so we moved from our little apartment in downtown Columbia, back home and I left for Oakland, California. Arriving at the transfer station, a large group of soldiers were diverted to other duty assignments around the world; my new home would be the American Forces Network, Frankfurt, West Germany. Julie and our young daughter joined me and we found an apartment in downtown Frankfurt. There was autobahn transportation to and from the network, a few miles away.

AFNE was the highlight of my 55-year broadcasting career but it was a lonely feeling celebrating Christmas away from family and friends back in Chattanooga. The family had sent us a few gifts; dad sent me a new stop watch that I used at the network. Our little Amy was too young to realize the significance of the season but she had a loving smile that would melt any heart.

Living downtown in the international city of Frankfurt was unique. The department stores went all out decorating and we knew Christmas was in the air. But, it wasn’t Chattanooga’s Market Street with the Electric Power Board’s beautiful decorations or Miller Brothers and Loveman’s windows filled with Christmas displays.

Waking up Christmas morning in Germany, I heard the nearby church bells ringing. As was the custom, many churches in Europe rang their bells on Christmas. AFNE music librarian Giesla Brertkopf said it was her family’s tradition to go to church Christmas morning and ring the bells as a reminder that the day is a celebration of Christ’s Birth.

That Christmas day, Julie, Amy and I walked to the Frankfurt Army mess hall and enjoyed dinner with turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes cranberry sauce and all the trimmings. There were several desserts including delicious pumpkin pie made by the Army cooks. Uncle Sam paid for my meal, but it cost only 70 cents for my dependents, and it was well worth it. Our hosts, the Army cooks, were so gracious going on over Amy (it had to be her charming smile), but it wasn’t home. We missed Mamaw Brown's traditional feast, Mother’s green beans, Aunt Ruby’s sweet potatoes, my father’s famous baked ham, Grandmother Freudenberg’s hot biscuits and Aunt Claire’s potato salad.

After the meal, the three of us proceeded to the nearby Frankfurt chapel to enjoy an afternoon performance of Handel’s Messiah. We waited in line in near freezing temperatures but when it came time to go in, the Army Chaplain announced the chapel was full and closed; what a big disappointment. At AFN we’d been announcing the musical for a month and I found out the effectiveness of radio.  The three of us went back to our apartment to spend some time together before I’d go to the network to pull my evening shift.

I’d missed waking up Christmas morning to the familiar sounds of Luther Masingill on the radio playing “Joy to the World” by the Morman Tabernacle Choir, “Jingle Bells” by the Singing Dogs, “Santa’s coming in a Whirlybird” by Gene Autry, and all Luther’s other holiday favorites. I’d missed Buddy Houts' conversation with Luther and Buddy’s funny stories, including asking Luther “if Mrs. Griffin’s foot long hot dog stand would be open? I’d missed the radio host talking with Mrs. Violet Pannell about the weather on Walden’s Ridge.

There was no Chattanooga News Free Press with Lee Anderson’s famous insert, “A Christmas Story.” I’d missed the Forgotten Child Fund’s, Christmas Eve Santa Train with Police Captain Uless Bettis singing “Here comes Santa Claus” over his patrol car loudspeaker. I’d missed trips riding through Chattanooga neighborhoods decorated with Santa displays and Nativities. I’d missed driving through several church parking lots hosting live Nativities and I had missed the traditional Christmas Eve live radio broadcast from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church with the Rev. John Bonner.

At 5 p.m., I said goodbye to Julie and Amy and left the apartment to pull a shift at AFNE from 6-midnight. During the six hours, the network broadcast a lot of holiday programming including radio Christmas versions of Dragnet and Gunsmoke. For those working, friends had brought in plenty to eat and lots of hot chocolate, but there was an empty feeling among the crew, it just wasn’t home.

Ray Tucker was our engineer in Master Control, Jan Wood anchored hourly newscasts and this writer was on the air. The three of us had complete control of what those stationed in Europe heard as the network field stations were closed. We did our jobs, but there was something missing that Christmas night, the warmth of family and friends, “IT JUST WASN’T HOME.”

At the end of our shift, the three of us left the studio agreeing, maybe working had provided thousands of troops and their dependents with some holiday cheer. During my trip on the autobahn back to the apartment that early Dec. 26th morning, I thought of all the GIs who were alone, back in the states and on foreign soil. I realized it wasn’t so bad, after all I did have Julie and Amy.

In retrospect, I was honored to have been on the air Christmas day, 1972, bringing the sounds of the joyous season to thousands who were just like me, away from their families and friends at Christmas.

Although “Home for the Holidays” has been recorded dozens of times, including versions by Robert Goulet and the Carpenters, every time I hear it, my mind goes back to Christmas, 1972 in Germany. This story really doesn’t end here.

This writer had charge of quarters for the network a week later, Dec. 31, 1972. Before the night was over I’d received two telephone calls from friends back home. I answered the phone and heard the familiar voice of WDOD’s General Manager Bill Nash. I was so surprised; it was hard to think of what to say. In those days a telephone call from the states cost $20 for three minutes. There were no cell phones.

A few hours later, another surprise; there was the phone call from Gene and Jamie Sharpe, my Hixson friends, who were on a tour in Europe. They were spending the night in Munich. Their voices sounded so good. In days to come there were yet more surprises; there was the telephone call from Tennessee Senator Bill Brock who with Georgia Senator Sam Nunn was on the way to a NATO meeting in Brussels. I also received greetings from then Hamilton County Manager Dalton Roberts, WDEF Radio General Manager Jerry Lingerfelt. WTVC’s Erwin O’Conner and several other broadcasters. Those letters are saved in my scrapbooks.

The late Luther Masingill was right when he said his favorite Christmas tune was “The Real Meaning of Christmas” by the Ray Conniff Singers. The important punch line was, “the Giving of Love every day.” My family and friends had given me something beyond a gift in a wrapped box; they had given me LOVE.

Now 52 years later, this writer pauses at Christmas to remember our military men and women who want be home for Christmas but are serving, protecting our country. I think of heroes like Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients Charles Coolidge and Desmond Doss, whose Christmas stories were so different from mind and I realize just how fortunate I was during the Christmas’ of 1971 and 1972.

It’s been said many, many, times, but once again to all our military members, “Thank You for Your Service.” A special thank you goes out to the men and women who’ll prepare Christmas Dinner for the members of the greatest military in the world. I’ll never forget that special meal with Julie and Amy at the Frankfurt Mess Hall, Christmas Day, 1972.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to each and everyone one of our troops, wherever stationed. I hope and pray you’ll be home soon and you can UN wrap your presents with family and friends. But remember, this Christmas you have the most important gift that can’t be found in a wrapped box, the LOVE of the American people.

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Heyearl1971@epbfi.com