Holiday decor supports U.S. troops

[darrels joy]

Holiday decor supports U.S. troops

Las Vegas residents band together in a patriotic and festive holiday display

By KEITH ROGERS
REVIEW-JOURNAL

For 13 years, Bill and Margo Russell lived on Carlotta Circle in central Las Vegas but never really knew their neighbors.

That was until this year, when Margo decided to persuade them to decorate their homes with a Christmas message for troops overseas.

"I thought my wife was crazy," Bill Russell said as dusk fell Friday with white lights glistening on every home on the block.

But like magic, the neighbors turned a cul-de-sac that for the most part had been dark over the years into a brightly lit Christmas scene, all in honor of military personnel. Prominently displayed at one home is a 5-foot-tall yellow ribbon, symbolizing a hoped-for safe return for all those serving in the nation's war on terrorism.

What Margo Russell learned from the project was that her neighbors, although varied in ethnic backgrounds, all wanted to do something to show their support for U.S. troops.

The residents particularly want to impress 1st Lt. James Valpiani, an Air Force Academy graduate who is son of their neighbor, Leslie Valpiani. James will be coming home from London for Christmas before an expected deployment in the Middle East.

Doug DuCharme, an Army draftee who served with an artillery unit in Germany from 1967 to 1969, described the neighborhood as an international lot with families from Vietnam, Korea and Mexico.

When the Russells approached them with their support-the-troops, white Christmas idea, "we said absolutely," DuCharme's wife, Judy, said.

"If nothing else, we did it to send a positive message and thoughts and prayers to our soldiers around the world," Doug DuCharme said.

Khai and Lan Duong wanted to help too. U.S. citizens formerly from South Vietnam, they know about war first hand.

Khai Duong was a helicopter pilot who shuttled Special Forces soldiers into combat during the Vietnam War.

"I'm behind the troops 100 percent. I think President Bush made a good decision," he said of the war in Iraq. "By going to war in Iraq, it makes us safer in our country."

Neighbor Lou Sarrica, a former Army Reserve soldier, offered his hope for the troops at Christmas. "I wish they would be home," he said.

Carlotta Circle neighbors, from left, Lou Sarrica, Lan Duong, Margo Russell, Khai Duong, Judy DuCharme, Mark Stephan, Doug DuCharme and Bill Russell gather Friday to drink egg nog and eat gingerbread cookies. The nieghbors decorated their houses for the holidays to support U.S. troops fighting the war on terror. Their neighbor Leslie Valpiani has a son, Air Force 1st Lt. James Valpiani, who will be sent to the Middle East after Christmas.
Photo by Ralph Fountain.

[usmcsgt65]

Finally, Bill and Margo support the military. I taught with Bill for 18 years. The Christmas spirit came to their neigborhood.