In World War I, Cpl. Fred Wertenbach wrote in his diary on Dec. 24, 1918, while stationed in France with Company G, 111th Infantry, 28th Division of American Expeditionary Forces: "Xmas(cq) here was not so awfully bad. We had dinner of corn -- wooly, but given tobacco and chocolate."

The following day, Wertenbach, of Fineview, noted: "(With) Christmas there comes a sadness tonight. So many dead -- for what? How am I ever going to pick up the old existence again. A clerk! And dead men's faces leering at me from the row of figures. Peace on earth -- shall I ever find it again? ... It is 3,000 miles to the U.S., but untold millions to yesterday and the old scheme of things."

From war to war, over the years, the emotion that the season evokes is reflected in troops' letters, Carroll said.

"Whether you are going off to war with a musket or an M-16, it does not really matter in the letters and thoughts that are sent home," he said. "The technology and language may differ, but the message is the same -- it is the generosity of hope and longing for home that shines though each generation."

Hrivnak, who was a flight nurse with the Air Force Reserve, began writing home by scribbling on pieces of tape that he would stick to his leg as he flew with wounded soldiers to Germany for medical treatment.

"I would take those pieces of tape off late at night and use them as notes to jog my memory about what had happened that day," said Hrivnak, who retired in July.

He and his wife of eight years, Jennifer, 34, a major in the Air Force Reserve and also a flight nurse, met in Officer Training School near Montgomery, Ala. She has been deployed three times, and in August her unit is scheduled to return to Iraq, Hrivnak said. The couple have a 6-month-old son, John Dawson.

In her last deployment, Jennifer Hrivnak wrote from Germany to her husband just before Christmas 2005, describing how deeply she was affected by managing flights for the wounded and troops who were killed:

"We are not on the forefronts of the battle, or in harm's way, but we all have come to the realization that there is a war going on down there and has been going on for four years now.

"... Though we are not in the desert, fighting in the sand and heat, all of us here ... are affected by this war. We are away from our families for months and years. It is time lost that we will never get back.

"Most of all, we are deeply moved and forever changed by our most solemn duty, arranging and executing the final journey of our valiant precious cargo... Our heroes are returning home."