My son likes to tell the story about Christmas in Fallujah, 2004, his unit on patrol through the war-devastated, eerily empty city, a cold fog and winter mist working its way down the backs of their necks, the Marines so disspirited and exhausted, plodding along, that the tank guys took pity on them and gave them a ride.

One tanker passed a Dr. Pepper can over to Dustin's buddy, who took a swig, grinned, and passed it on to Dustin. 

"No thanks," he said.

"Aw, c'mon," said his buddy.  "It's Christmas."

"I don't want any damn Dr. Pepper," he growled.  His buddy shrugged, but something in his grin gave Dustin second thoughts.

The can was filled with whiskey.

It's a funny story, but the image of those guys trudging along on Christmas Eve on a cold wet desert night--people forget that the desert gets very cold in winter--has become for me an iconic image of the troops in war over the holidays.

Now, Dustin's unit has redeployed to Fallujah, for their FOURTH time.  Although he's out of the Marines now, many of his buddies will be spending another Christmas Eve in Fallujah.

Not that anybody seems to care much.  Watch the television news for a week and see if there's any reference to the war in Iraq.  Read the Times or the Post every day and see how many it takes before there's a story.

But Billy Joel has not forgotten.

He took letters he had received from troops deployed in combat zones, and he wrote a song that will blow you completely away:  "Christmas in Fallujah." 

He gave the song to a brilliant young perfomer by the name of Cass Dillon, because he wanted the song to be performed by someone the same age as the troops.

Then, he put a string orchestra onstage, and as a chorus, soldiers in desert cammies, singing OOH-RAH in the finale, their faces darkened, no doubt, to protect their identities.

As soon as I heard, "It's Christmas in Fallujah, and nobody gives a damn," I started to cry.

But it's not just the words, it's the GREAT MUSIC, the great rock and roll-Billy Joel touch.  It's just a great song.

Many thanks to Paul Rieckhoff, a former soldier and Iraq veteran-turned anti-war activist, for drawing our attention to this phenomenal performance, on Huffingtonpost.com.  Like he says, he may not agree with every word, but he feels pretty good that Bill O'Reilly will get in a froth about it.

But that's okay.  Bill O'Reilly never had a son trudging through the streets of Fallujah on Christmas Eve.

Read Rieckhoff's brief intro, and listen to the song.

Merry Christmas and semper fi from a Marine mom.  And God bless Billy Joel.