Early last week, James Carroll of Tyler, Texas, came to Billings for the second time in his life.<\/p>\n
It was an enjoyable visit, but it was hard to top that first one, on Christmas<\/a> Eve 1954.<\/p>\n Carroll was a 23-year-old Army private at the time, just out of basic training at Fort Bliss, Texas, on his way to Seattle on a troop train. From Seattle he shipped out to Alaska, where he would serve for the duration of his two-year enlistment.<\/p>\n The train stopped in Colorado to pick up some more troops, bringing the number of soldiers to somewhere between 100 and 200 men. As far as Carroll remembers, they were never allowed off the train until they reached Billings.<\/p>\n It was 5 or 6 p.m., \u201cabout time for the evening meal.\u201d Carroll and four other guys walked downtown for something to eat. He doesn\u2019t recall the name of the restaurant, but it was a good meal, with big steaks around the horn.<\/p>\n \u201cWe selected what we thought was the best place to eat,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat the heck, it was Christmas<\/a> Eve, so we were going to have the best we could find.\u201d<\/p>\n On the house<\/p>\n When they finished eating and walked up to pay their tab, the man behind the counter wouldn\u2019t take their money. \u201cHe said our money was no good,\u201d Carroll said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t believe it, because it was an expensive meal.\u201d<\/p>\n They left there in high spirits and continued strolling around downtown, struck by how friendly everybody was, how welcome they were made to feel.<\/p>\n \u201cThe shocker was when I got back to the train. Nobody had been able to pay for anything in Billings,\u201d not even those who had tried to purchase gifts for their wives or girlfriends.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure it was just spontaneous on the part of the people there,\u201d he said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it. A soldier was not going to pay for anything in Billings on Christmas<\/a> Eve.\u201d<\/p>\n He laughed and added, \u201cI should have bought a car.\u201d<\/p>\n As Carroll was preparing for bed that night, with the train just leaving town, he pulled aside the little curtains on his Pullman car.<\/p>\n The kid from Texas hadn\u2019t seen much snow in his life, and he\u2019d rarely seen anything so lovely.<\/p>\n The half-forgotten words of an old poem came to him that night in the Pullman car, something about the moonlight glimmering on the white-crusted snow, and he heard the soothing chug-chug of the train picking up steam.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve remembered that picture all my life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n And for 53 years he\u2019s been telling people about the town that wouldn\u2019t take money from soldiers on Christmas<\/a> Eve.<\/p>\n He\u2019d never been back until last week, when he and a companion, Alta Leath, were visiting friends in Cody. When Carroll saw how close it was to Billings, they decided to drive up.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m 75 years old, and I don\u2019t know how many more chances I\u2019ll get,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n So he and Alta spent the afternoon in Billings, driving around, shopping, taking photographs, visiting the newspaper to share Carroll\u2019s story. Mostly, he came back to deliver a message.<\/p>\n