Alexander Schweitzer, left, Army Spc. Lamar Porter, Silas Schweitzer and Tina Schweitzer enjoy cake and coffee on Christmas Day 2023. The Schweitzers hosted Porter for the holiday as part of Operation Good Cheer. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
For the three U.S. soldiers taking part in the Christmas Eve festivities at the Buerger family home in Zweibruecken, Germany, entertainment included rousing games of Cards Against Humanity and shots from skull-shaped glasses.
It may not have been the most standard means of celebrating the yuletide, but Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Fox nevertheless had no problem fitting in with his hosts, Ulf and Manuela Buerger and their teenage son T.J.
“I feel like I’ve known these guys for a long time,” Fox said, adding that it was a blessing for him to be with Buergers for the Christmas season.
Fox, who is assigned to the 44th Expeditionary Signal Battalion-Enhanced at Baumholder, is one of about a dozen single American soldiers stationed in the area who spent the holiday with German host families, part of a decades-old program reactivated this year for the first time since the coronavirus brought it to a halt in 2019.
Known as Operation Good Cheer, the program has paired about 1,100 American soldiers with German families since it was launched in the 1970s, according to the Army.
Fox is the third American soldier the Buergers have welcomed through the program. This Christmas Eve, two additional soldiers the family knew through a friend joined their festivities independently.
Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Fox, from left, Staff Sgt. Mary Porter, T.J. Buerger, Manuela Buerger, Sgt. John Oliviero and Ulf Buerger play Cards Against Humanity on Christmas Eve 2023 at the Buergers’ home in Zweibruecken, Germany. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Fox, from left, Staff Sgt. Mary Porter and T.J. Buerger play Cards Against Humanity on Christmas Eve 2023. Fox was invited to spend the holiday with the Buerger family as part of Operation Good Cheer. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
Ulf Buerger checks on dinner at his home in Zweibruecken, Germany, Dec. 24, 2023. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
“I know how it is to be alone at Christmas,” said Buerger, who served in the German military. “For me, this is about bringing friends together and having a good time. That’s the spirit of Christmas.”
U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz organizes Operation Good Cheer, which it says is aimed at fostering cultural exchange and understanding. The soldiers and host families met for the first time at a group event earlier in the month.
Afterward, the soldiers received invitations for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, the day after Christmas — which is also a German holiday — or a combination of days. Some slept over, particularly those celebrating with alcohol.
Elsewhere in Rheinland-Pfalz, Viktoria and Florian Gerss donned medieval German outfits to welcome Sgt. Stuart McMullen and Pfc. Jaheim McLain, both with the 515th Transportation Company at Baumholder, to their home for Christmas Eve.
The couple live near the town of Birkenfeld and have a penchant for medieval reenactments. Along with their four children, ages 14 to 33, they have participated in Operation Good Cheer for several years.
They even invited a soldier they had previously hosted for Christmas to celebrate with them when the program was suspended.
“We connected with the soldier and wrote often so that soldier came to us twice without Operation Good Cheer,” Viktoria said. “This is our Christmas tradition now.”
McMullen said the thought of spending the holiday in the home of people he’d only recently met was intimidating at first.
But he overcame his initial hesitance, joining in a game of Uno with the Gerss family as honey wine flowed.
Viktoria and Florian Gerss donned medieval German outfits to welcome Sgt. Stuart McMullen and Pfc. Jaheim McLain, both with the 515th Transportation Company, to their home near the town of Birkenfeld, Germany, on Christmas Eve 2023 as part of Operation Good Cheer, which pairs single American soldiers with German families. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
Sgt. Stuart McMullen, left, and Susanne Gerss enjoy a game of Uno at the Gerss’ home near Birkenfeld, Germany, Dec. 24, 2023. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
“Since I arrived in Germany, I’ve done a lot of traveling, but I never got to experience actual German family culture,” McMullen said. “That’s why I thought this would be a cool experience.”
Another soldier with the 515th Transportation Company, Spc. Lamar Porter, spent Christmas Day in the neighboring state of Saarland, with Alexander and Tina Schweitzer and their 9-year-old son Silas at their home in Primstal.
“Nobody should be alone on Christmas,” Tina Schweitzer said while serving coffee and cakes next to a towering Christmas tree.
“And I can speak English,” Silas interjected, saying what he considers his favorite aspect of the program.
The Schweitzers signed up this year for the first time after seeing an advertisement in a German newspaper. They’re already planning to participate in Operation Good Cheer next year, and they invited Porter over for another visit in the spring.
Army Spc. Lamar Porter, center, spends time with Alexander and Tina Schweitzer at their home in Primstal, Germany, on Christmas Day 2023. The Schweitzers hosted Porter as part of a program that pairs single soldiers with German families for the holidays. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
Porter, a transport operator, thinks there should be more initiatives linking soldiers with the German community to help “build a home away from home.”
A simple Christmas get-together can have a lasting impact on all those involved, as the Buerger family can attest to.
“The first soldier we ever hosted wrote to me a few months ago and said he found a photo from that night,” Buerger said.
“He explained how he had problems with father figures in the past and that he still thinks about the good time he had here. That’s why my door is open.”
