Author of above Poem

This appears in “Urban Legends” http://www.snopes.com

This poem, which sees wide circulation every Christmastime, is generally credited to "a Marine stationed in Okinawa, Japan" (or, since 11 September 2001, "a Marine stationed in Afghanistan"). More specifically, the poem is often attributed to an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel named Bruce Lovely, who purportedly penned it on Christmas Eve 1993 while stationed in Korea (and saw it printed under his name in the Ft. Leavenworth Lamp a few years later):

I arrived in Korea in Jul 93 and was extremely impressed with the commitment of the soldiers I worked with and those that were prepared to give their lives to maintain the freedom of South Korea. To honor them, I wrote the poem and went around on Christmas Eve and put it under the doors of US soldiers assigned to Yongsan.

This attribution does a great disservice to the true author, James M. Schmidt, who was a Lance Corporal stationed in Washington, D.C., when he wrote the poem back in 1986. As Corporal Schmidt told us in December 2002:

The true story is that while a Lance Corporal serving as Battalion Counter Sniper at the Marine Barracks 8th & I, Washington, DC, under Commandant P.X. Kelly and Battalion Commander D.J. Myers [in 1986], I wrote this poem to hang on the door of the Gym in the BEQ. When Colonel Myers came upon it, he read it and immediately had copies sent to each department at the Barracks and promptly dismissed the entire Battalion early for Christmas leave. The poem was placed that day in the Marine Corps Gazette, distributed worldwide and later submitted to Leatherneck Magazine.

Schmidt's original version, entitled "Merry Christmas, My Friend," was published in Leatherneck (Magazine of the Marines) in December 1991, a full two years before it was supposedly "written" by someone else on Christmas Eve 1993 (and had appeared in the Barracks publication Pass in Review four years before it was printed in Leatherneck).

Leatherneck recently wrote of the poem's author:

"Merry Christmas, My Friend" has been a holiday favorite among "leatherneckphiles" for nearly the time it takes to complete a Marine Corps career. Few, however, know who wrote it and when. Former Corporal James M. Schmidt, stationed at Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C., pounded it out 17 years ago on a typewriter while awaiting the commanding officer's Christmas holiday decorations inspection . . . while other leathernecks strung lights for the Barracks' annual Christmas decoration contest, Schmidt contributed his poem to his section.

Over the years the text of "Merry Christmas, My Friend" has been altered to change Marine-specific wording into Army references (including the title — U.S. Marines do not refer to themselves as "soldiers"!) and to incorporate line-ending rhyme changes necessitated by those alterations.

After leaving the Corps, Corporal Schmidt earned a law degree and now serves as an entertainment attorney in Los Angeles and is director of operations for a security consulting firm.

Thanks John!

reference the author of Marines Christmas

Thanks so much for the well written post about the true author of that beautiful and moving poem.

Being one who writes ....I can appreciate the honesty of one who steps up and can Identify the True Author of a work. Poetry is art as we all know.....and is just as moving as beautiful music and painted masterpieces.

I would like to contact that author ....If you could email me off line here, I would be forever grateful.....;)

Kabal739@aol.com

Semper Fidelis

Though its not CHristmas,
But I want to leave a comment and say, that when I first read this poem years ago, I was really touched and moved...