Christmas Eve in My Home Town

In his Amazon book, "Razz Ma Tazz, My Life in Music, Television and Film, " WWII and Korean veteran and songwriter, Stan Zabka, tells of "A song you may never have heard, but if you're a GI you've heard it, because this song has traveled more miles and brought tears to GIs than any other " (Bob Landers, WNEW-NY). During the Korean War, Pfc Eddie Fisher's recording for the American Forces Network was the most requested Christmas song in Europe. During Viet Nam, Kate Smith introduced her recording and special greeting to the troops on both The Tonight Show and Bing Crosby's Hollywood Palace. Kate's rendition and interview with Johnny Carson was also instrumental in our government's granting permission for Christmas music to be broadcast to our troops in *** countries during Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and later was instrumental for a full blown AFN TV broadcasting station to be established in Baghdad during the Iraq War. The Voice of America and Radio Free Europe carried the story when, in 2007, AFN and The Stars And Stripes named Christmas Eve in My Home Town "The GI Christmas Song" and broadcast its story over radio and satellite to Iraq and 58 countries around the world and ships at sea, wherever our troops are stationed. The song has been recorded by twenty three artists to date, including "Satchmo" and the 2nd Infantry Band, Korea, as well as the US Army Ambassadors Band and college orchestras and groups.