FORT IRWIN, Calif.-- While most people were preparing for Thanksgiving, four workers from Fort Irwin's FMWR and High Desert Support Services had their sights elsewhere. On the morning of Nov. 22, they took delivery of a 25-foot white pine and focused their attention on how to stand up the post's showcase Christmas tree at Towne Center plaza on Langford Lake Road.
It was a lot easier this year, said Mike Wallace, a staff member of the post's Directorate of Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation. Last year, his crew was challenged by winds and rains that funneled down the Towne Center block of Langford Lake Road, whipping dangerously around the tree. This year, Saturday morning was nice, cool and still. The crew took about an hour to maneuver the tree on the steel fingers of two forklifts and slowly raise it upright in the center of the plaza.
The following Monday and Tuesday, the second phase began for the tree's transformation. For this, Gold Star Father Rick Creed came from Rancho Cucamonga to take charge. As in the past two years, Creed worked with FMWR's Janet Ford and other staff members to dress the tree with ornamental lights and prepare it for a tree lighting ceremony that will kick off Fort Irwin's WinterFest celebration on Friday, Dec. 12.
Creed promises an even grander show than last year, taking cues from a YouTube video of Christmas tree lighting sequence in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Creed, who has been lighting up own his house and yard for Christmas for many years, said his inspiration for adding sound and light dynamics to his front yard light show began in 2008, when his wife took him to a Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas concert. He went home and looked up TSO on the internet.
"One of the tabs on their website said, 'Animate your house with TSO.' I'm a programmer; I can do that," Creed said.
For his day job, Creed programs software for air conditioning systems. "It's like a hobby to me, but this (Christmas light shows) is all hobby," Creed said. "It basically takes about eight hours to do a three-minute song."
Creed said his wife can't help but be a fan for his passion about his hobby. "She's the one who started this."
Creed's connection with Fort Irwin began four years ago, when he met Fort Irwin's former garrison commander Col. Kurt Pinkerton in Victorville. Creed learned then that Pinkerton had known his son Matthew in 2006, a gunner on security detachment for command group leaders. Pinkerton was then a battalion commander for the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in Baghdad, while Creed's son's brigade was handing off its mission to the 11th ACR.
Creed's son didn't make it home for Christmas that year. He was killed by a sniper bullet on Oct. 22, 2006.
"I do the tree lighting to honor my son, to give back to the military," said Creed.
Creed and his wife are also involved in raising funds to replace weather-worn banners in Rancho Cucamonga, where the city displays the banners on city streets to honor military members who have served our country.
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