The partygoers wore short-sleeved shirts and shorts, and the crackling “fire” in the cardboard fireplace mercifully cast no heat, but that didn’t stop the small throng of people gathered at Beersheba Cumberland Presbyterian Church from celebrating Christmas Friday night. After all, the guest of honor — Lindsay Wingo — will be far from New Hope this holiday, and they couldn’t miss the opportunity to send her away with a dash of Christmas cheer.
Wingo, 24, is one of approximately 70 area soldiers deploying for Afghanistan today to serve with the Army National Guard in Operation Enduring Freedom. She recently received her nursing degree from Mississippi University for Women and will serve as a combat medic for the 223rd Engineer Battalion, headquartered in West Point.
Wingo intermittently kissed and hugged her fiancé, Levi Williams, as she gazed around the room, looking from the patriotic-themed Christmas tree to the tables laden with food to the faces of friends, family and those who are not yet family but will be once she returns from Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, and is able to finalize wedding plans with Levi, who has been her boyfriend for more than four years and her fiancé for two.
Her future sister-in-law, Leann Williams, was the one who first suggested the Christmas-themed going-away party. She said even though it was hard to juggle the party planning with her academic demands at Mississippi University for Women and her job at Twin River Transportation, Wingo is a part of their family, and she couldn’t let her leave without getting at least a taste of a family Christmas.
“(The soldiers) are giving us our freedom,” Leann Williams said Thursday. “So what if it’s Christmas in September? This is nothing compared to that. We’re proud of her, and we wish her the best.”
Wingo joined the Army National Guard in 2005, shortly after her 18th birthday. For her, it was a way to pay for college, serve her country and advance her career.
For her mother, Cindy Wingo, the news came as a shock. She’d mentioned joining the service before, but her mother didn’t believe she’d follow through with it.
Friday night, as she stood among her daughter’s future in-laws and pondered the months ahead, she admitted that though she was upset at first and still cries “almost every day,” she’s also proud of her.
She worries that her “always bubbly” daughter, the one who loves to help people and rarely says “no” to anyone, will see things in the combat zone that will change her sunny personality.
“You always hear people go to war and come back not the same,” Cindy Wingo said. “I pray she’ll go and return the same old Lindsay. I pray the war is over soon and our soldiers stay out of harm.”
While many brought early Christmas presents for the young soldier, her mother wrapped a few essentials for her middle child — bug spray, chapstick and assorted “little happy things.”
As for Lindsay Wingo, she took the evening in stride, even though Levi Williams had originally told her they were stopping at the church so he could see his sister before they went out to eat.
“It’s Christmas!” Leann Williams exclaimed, as they entered the room.
“Well, I can see that,” Wingo quipped. “You all should have dressed up and done Halloween, too.”
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.