Dear Editor,

I'd like to thank the TIMES NEWS for holding their open house on the evening of Tuesday, 17 December 2013 - snow or not!I saw that the building was modern and very clean, and the staff very informative and friendly.You asked for Christmas stories.One of my more memorable Christmas times was while I was in the Navy. My ship,the destroyer USS Strong DD-758, was patrolling off the coast of North Vietnam, December 1967.There had been a declared truce between 6 p.m. Christmas Eve and 6 p.m. Christmas night. Of course, we watched enemy troop, vehicle, and sampan movements during the truce.The cooks served the best turkey dinner I ever had in the Navy, after which we cleaned up and returned to normal routine.At 17:57 (5:57 p.m.) General Quarters ("Battle Stations") was sounded.At 18:00 our first shots were fired and we sank a number of southbound sampans. "Merry Christmas, Charlie!" (Charlie being the Viet Cong guerrillas).What a contrast between celebrating the birth of the Son of God and war, huh?Sincerely,Scotty MorrisonLehighton