Christmas Waited

    Christmas "waited" eight months at the Westwood home of an Air Force sergeant, whose leave was postponed five consecutive times since last January!

    The story started when Mr. and Mrs. Edwin H. Maifeld, St. Catherine Place, heard that their two servicemen sons might get home during the general Christmas season last year. One was Sgt. Larry Maifeld, who was at Eglin Air Force Base near Valparaiso, Florida, and who was expected to be sent to Vietnam right after a mid-November leave at home. The other was Staff Sergeant Henry Maifeld, who was expected to return home shortly after last Christmas from his temporary duty assignment at Udorn Air Base in Thailand.

    Since both sons were scheduled for holiday-season trips home, their parents dressed a large Christmas tree and set up an expansive winter scene below it in their living room last November 11.

Larry and his wife, Pearl, did come home on leave last Nov. 17 and enjoyed the family "glitter" before returning to Eglin AFB to await his shipping orders and planning to return again for a few days when Henry showed up.

    The vast ornamentation filled about one-fourth of the front room, but the senior Maifelds kept it intact beyond Christmas, hoping for Henry to arrive by January 15. Unfortunately, Henry's leave was postponed six weeks to late February--so the Maifelds maintained the tree layout longer and supplemented it with a Feb. 14 Valentine display on the wall.

    Then Henry's leave was delayed six more weeks to earlt April, and his parents added an April 14 Easter symbol on the wall. Came a third postponement to late May, and his parents added an American Eagle for Memorial Day (May 30).

    Meanwhile, son Larry still was awaiting his Vietnam assignment and couldn't wait any longer. He furloughed home again May 17 to enjoy the Yule atmosphere once more before shipping for Saigon May 23.

    A fourth postponement pushed back Henry's "tree-see" to early July, and the family added an Uncle Sam picture for Independence Day. A fifth delay changed the schedule to August, but the festive layout remained.

    Thus, when Henry and his wife, Isobel, and their son, Doug, did arrive home from Thailand last week, it was "Labor Dayish" outside, but it still was Christmas, 1967, inside!

    (P.S>: Henry and his family will stay until Sept. 17 when he will report to Luke AFB, near Phoenix, Ariz.)

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