Photo By Sgt. Rodney Foliente | Stolarcek chuckles with a wash of memories as he holds an original ornament for his...... read more read more
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By Sgt. Rodney Foliente
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
CAMP ECHO, Iraq – He carefully opens the package sent to him by his mother, saving the address label to add to the others that chronicle the history and many destinations the contents have travelled.
Smiles of anticipation and flickers of various emotions flit across his face as he describes the family history of what lies beneath the brown paper wrapping.
"This is the box," announced Maj. Bo Stolarcek, the communications office in charge for the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. He pointed to the original shipping label on the unwrapped parcel, dated December 1970 and addressed to his father, William, a captain and pilot with the 242nd ASH "Muleskinners" Helicopter Battalion, 1st Armor Division, deployed to Vietnam.
Cradled inside the vintage box was an artificial Christmas tree with the original star, ornaments and garland. Also in the box, was a history of the tree with deployment letters, previous shipping labels, some newer ornaments and two strands of newer lights.
The tree was originally purchased from a J.C. Penney's mail order catalogue by the family and shipped to his father during his second tour in Vietnam.
"I was a year old at the time, and my brother was 5 when my mom sent this to my dad," he said, looking far away to memories of his father and family.
He, his mother, Rose, and his brother, Billy, were at Fort Hood, Texas, at the time, thinking of their Soldier in Vietnam. Stolarcek was too young at the time to really remember that Christmas, but the tree and the ensuing tradition and traditions mean a great deal to him.
Every Christmas since then, the tree was set up as a reminder of what the family endured in service to their country and of the familial bonds that distance could not sever.
"My mom puts the tree up every Christmas ... when it's not deployed," he said with a laugh.
Stolarcek's father passed away 12 years ago. During the holidays, his memory is kept vibrant and honored with the tradition of the sparkling Christmas tree.
Stolarcek fondly joked that the tree is similar to that featured in "A Charlie Brown Christmas." In the animated movie, the Peanuts gang scoffed Charlie Brown and his little tree as pathetic, but in the end, the tree proved special to everyone.
The deployment tree stands at less than three feet, but to the Stolarcek family it towers, built up with their own private thoughts and sentiments.
When Stolarcek, from Dover, Fla., got older and followed in his father's footsteps by joining the Army, he also faced deployments, each time receiving the tree by mail from his mother, who also calls Dover home.
The first Christmas it was sent to him was in 1990, during Operation Desert Shield/ Desert Storm in Iraq, where he served as a specialist with the 160th Military Police Battalion, 16th Military Police Airborne Brigade, based out of Fort Bragg, N.C.
"When Desert Shield/ Desert Storm came around, she thought it was appropriate to send it to me," he said, sending it back after the holiday season.
"Things were a lot different during Desert Shield/ Desert Storm. We didn't have a lot of the modern conveniences that we now have [during deployment]. At the time, it was the only tree that we had in my battalion, so it was something nice to brighten up the Soldiers."
His mother sent the tree to him again in 2005, when he deployed as a captain with the 160th Signal Brigade to Kuwait, where the tree spread its cheer in the tactical network operation center.
"Everyone thought it was pretty cool," he said, especially after he shared its history with the Soldiers. "I sent it home then, not knowing that a couple of years later, we'd be back here again."
His father also served as an infantry platoon leader with 4th Inf. Div., with whom Stolarcek is currently deployed. And now, the tree is back in Iraq, four deployments tucked beneath its belt of garland; once to Vietnam with his father, and three times to the Middle East with Stolarcek.
"It will hopefully brighten the spirits of the Soldiers here who get to see it every day and remember what time of the year it is," he said.
He decorated the green tree with a shiny red, silver and gold star; garnet and gold-colored ornaments; and garland of red, green, blue, silver and gold. Adding to the original decorations, he wreathed the tree in a new strand of colored lights, newer ornaments from previous deployments and a brand new ornament from a Family friend.
"It's been around the world. It may not be the fanciest-looking tree, but it certainly has some character, and it's special to our family," said Stolarcek proudly. "It's kind of a family heirloom, which certainly will be passed down from me to my children."
He said this tradition is special for him, as is Christmas time, sharing that his favorite childhood memory of Christmas "was racing down the stairs and seeing the presents under the tree. Those memories are burned and engraved in me, and now, I get to see the same expressions on my kids' faces."
Except for this year. The same duty that called him to deploy before, and his father before him, requires one more Christmas apart.
"I'm not going to be with my family this year, but a part of them is with me," he said with a thickening voice and the marks of that sacrifice written across his face.
He stares at the tree, losing himself to memories of past and present. With a swirl of thought, he thinks perhaps of his father, mother, brother, himself as a little boy and now a man with his wife, Laura, his children; 12-year-old daughter, Sarah; 9-year-old daughter, Caroline; and his 8-year-old son, William, named after the tree's original keeper.
To many people, the Christmas tree is an icon to spark a bedecked wreath of Christmas memories of family and friends. It is symbol of goodwill and generosity as it livens up a room.
Where a living tree requires earth, water and sunlight, the tree of aluminum and plastic has been nurtured with love and sacrifice, fed with memories and shines with its own light to Stolarcek and generations of his family. Imbibed with heritage and tradition, its future remains open and untold.
| Date Taken: | 12.09.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 12.09.2008 11:31 |
| Story ID: | 27378 |
| Location: | DIWANIYAH, IQ |
| Web Views: | 376 |
| Downloads: | 287 |
This work, Family tree bears wealth of Christmas history, by SGT Rodney Foliente, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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