Don Brookins, my neighbor across the street, is one of the world's good guys. He and his attractive wife, Joyce, are the resident gurus of our neighborhood and friends and confidants to everyone.

Want to borrow a ladder or check out the squeal in your car's transmission? See Don. Need some friendly advice on a personal problem or information on how to buy a used car on the Internet? See Don. Leave your garage door open at night? Expect a phone call from Don calling it to your attention. He and Joyce are the organizers, dispensers of local information and social directors of our block that ensure there is communal friendliness and helpfulness here.

Don is also an acknowledged talent. An award-winning television news photographer, he has helped Channel 9 win the News Photography of the Year about a dozen times.

OK, you say, so Don Brookins is a viable candidate for Broomfield's best neighbor. How does that qualify him to become the son of St. Nicholas?

To explain the phenomenon, let's turn back the clock to 1944. Richard Brookins is a valiant soldier in Uncle Sam's Army. He and his compatriots have spent months in fierce combat against the German army. Now they have liberated the City of Wiltz in Luxembourg. The people of Wiltz are delirious with joy. Luxembourg has been under the control of the Germans since 1940. Wiltz, however, was the only city in that country to stage a revolt. They paid for it. The Germans gathered up the top five citizens and executed them in the city square before the rest of the populace. Then they conscripted all the able-bodied Wiltz men they could locate to serve in the German army. Many others fled to the hills. The result was that most of the children of Wiltz had little or no male guidance while growing up. And St. Nicholas, the Santa Claus of Europe, had not provided gifts at Christmas for many years.

The American soldiers found this situation as exciting as warts and decided to do something about it. They held a communal celebration. Toys and candy and other goodies were handed out to all the children. And the person handing them out was St. Nicholas himself.

How could this happen, you ask? It happened because Richard Brookins, with fake beard and clothes borrowed from the local priest, played the role of St. Nicholas. He had two young girls as attendants who advised him of the local language and the event was a heartwarming success. Every child received a gift from St. Nick.

It took the citizens of Wiltz until 1977 to locate Richard Brookins in the United States. (They found him through the Internet.) Overcome with joy, they brought he and Don and Don's brother to Wiltz for a celebration and re-enactment. In 1994, Don, Joyce and daughters Shannon and Carolyn, were flown to Wiltz with other cousins to be feted and honored on the 50th anniversary of St. Nicholas' return to Wiltz. His father is going back this year for the 60th anniversary.

Now, you can read all about it in a book titled "The American St. Nicholas." It's a great story.

And that, my friends, is why the likable, friendly and generous Don Brookins is Broomfield's "Son of St. Nicholas."

The American St. Nick is a fine recollection of one shining moment in a horrendous conflict when the soul of the American soldier came out from behind his Warrior face. Just as it often does in Iraq & Afghanistan today. It is a tale simply told of bringing joy to some needy children & their community. It is also the story of how one town never forgot the GIs who gave of their bounty, such as it was, & by doing so resurrected the Spirit of Christmas for a devastated people.

In this time, when our Veterans from World War II are realizing how much we all need to hear their stories, The American St. Nick is a heart-warming one grandfathers can share with their grandchildren, helping them to see that behind the face of the Warrior beats a father's heart.

Highly Recommended!

The fourth-century bishop whose feast is celebrated Dec. 6, St. Nicholas of Myra, is said to have wrought miracles both before and after his death, according to Catholic tradition.

One of those miracles occurred nearly 60 years ago, on Dec. 5, 1944, in the small village of Wiltz, nestled in the rolling forests of northern Luxembourg.

The miracle has since been repeated in Wiltz every Dec. 5 -- and Dec. 5, 2004, will be no exception.

It is the miracle of how a "mustard seed" of a good deed done by a handful of GIs blossomed into a spirit-lifting St. Nicholas Day celebration that grows more grand with each passing year.

Here is the story of that first miracle and how the others followed. The Visitor interviewed Dick Brookins, 82, of Pittsford, N.Y., and Harry Stutz, 87, of Green Lake, Wash. -- American GIs stationed in Wiltz during World War II. It also draws from a fact-based but somewhat fictionalized account of the events documented in the book, "The American St. Nick" (WindRiver Publishing) by journalist Peter Lion.

The story

It was Thanksgiving Day, 1944. Cpls. Stutz and Brookins were working as cryptographers in the U.S. Army's 28th Infantry Division Signal Corps message center.

Two months earlier, the Americans had liberated Luxembourg after more than four years of Nazi occupation. The battered 28th Division had limped into Wiltz and set up a headquarters after weeks of fighting the Nazis along the Belgian-German border.

On this day, Brookins, who was responsible for showing movies to GIs on break from combat, was setting up his film projector to show the holiday classic, "Going My Way."

But the movie's holiday theme only made the men more homesick for their families. The Luxembourgers themselves were feeling nostalgic about the holidays after four years of Nazi suppression of their native customs and traditions, including the celebration of St. Nicholas Day, Dec. 6.

Stutz was aware that Wiltz residents needed a holiday pick-me-up, and that it was St. Nicholas Day -- and especially the eve of the feast, Dec. 5 -- rather than Christmas that was celebrated with the most civic gusto.

He knew this because he had befriended a local man, Martin Schneider, who was a member of the resistance against Nazi occupation. Stutz learned that Schneider's niece, 7-year-old Martha, and hundreds more like her hadn't experienced holiday happiness since they were toddlers. And, in a wartime economy, they wouldn't have much joy this Christmas season either, even though newly liberated.

So Stutz, a self-described "nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn," began concocting a plan to give back to the Luxembourgers their St. Nicholas celebration.

His mission? To hold the mother of all St. Nick's Eve parties in Wiltz.

Stutz formed a committee of GIs to handle party plans. Invitations were written, translated, printed and distributed to the townspeople. Army cooks baked doughnuts and cakes. Soldiers were asked to contribute candy sent to them in "care packages" from their families back home.

The most crucial cog in the party planning machinery, however, was to find a guy to portray St. Nick.

"Why not Brookins?" Stutz thought. His tall, lanky figure was in keeping with what Stutz considered to be a bishop's and saint's larger-than-lifeness. After some powerful persuasion, Stutz sold his buddy on donning a beard, bishop's miter and robes, and on carrying a bishop's crozier -- all provided by the local Catholic pastor -- on the big day.

As the celebration began, Brookins feared his limited knowledge of German might destroy the illusion for the children that he was indeed St. Nick. And, although he has since converted to Catholicism (his wife Virginia's religion), he was at the time a Lutheran impersonating a Catholic bishop in the midst of a predominantly Catholic community.

"I was afraid if I didn't do a good job, I would disappoint the children," Brookins told the Visitor.

As he handed goodies to the children, Brookins drew on a smattering of German phrases he had picked up. He would ask, for example, "What's your name?" then smile, nod and head-pat the children as they responded in words he didn't understand. As for the children, they were wowed that the wonderful St. Nick was speaking directly to them.

As the spirits of the smiling children and their families rose, Brookins began feeling more comfortable in his role -- and in his costume ... except for a too-tight miter that gave him a pounding headache. But Brookins refused to take it off because, as he said in Lion's book, he didn't want to risk ruining "the whole St. Nicholas thing for the kids."

Brookins, Stutz and the other GIs began to realize how much the hastily planned celebration meant to all Wiltz's citizens, especially its junior citizens.

When the idea for the party first hit him, Stutz said, "it was going to be just a little party for little Martha and the Schneider family, but it ended up being a celebration for the entire town."

Alas, those in Wiltz had only a few days to bask in the glorious afterglow. A week later, the Battle of the Bulge erupted, the last and bloodiest offensive of the war in which the German army marched through Wiltz in a last-ditch push toward Antwerp, Belgium. Later in the battle, during the war's last gasps, most of Wiltz was razed by friendly fire when American forces reliberated Wiltz from the Germans.

"Even though it was American bombs that destroyed their town, the people of Wiltz still loved us," Stutz told the Visitor. "They were just happy to have their freedom. I didn't know the true meaning of freedom until I saw it in action, and on the faces of the townspeople."

"Their loyalty to the GIs who liberated them never flagged," Brookins added. "It just goes to show that some good things can happen in wartime."

Some children at the party didn't make it through the battle and others were wounded, Stutz said, including Martha "who was hit by shrapnel."

Near the war's end, as townspeople huddled in a brewery that served as a makeshift bomb shelter, Stutz said, they vowed, if they survived, to also keep the St. Nick celebration alive. Since the war, the celebration has thrived and snowballed annually.The legacy

Now, it is a nationwide event broadcast over Luxembourg radio and television, Stutz said, with up to 60,000 children flocking to Wiltz to receive goodies from a local Wiltz resident who dresses up, just as Brookins did 60 years ago, as the honorary "American St. Nick."

Wiltz has invited Brookins and Stutz to Luxembourg to celebrate the annual celebration, and each has done so a handful of times. Brookins will reprise his role this year, and Stutz's son will be present to deliver a message written by his father about the generosity of soldiers and the preciousness of friendship and freedom.

"In the world today, America needs as many friends as we can get," Stutz said, "and the Luxembourgers are true friends. When soldiers come as true liberators they are truly loved."

Although Brookins has received most of the notoriety, he credits Stutz as the originator of the gesture in 1944 that spawned "the American St. Nick."

"Harry is a benevolent, kind and generous guy," Brookins said.

"And Dick was just great in the role," Stutz said. "He should be named the American ambassador to Luxembourg. He's a household name over there."

It is amazing how the ripple-effect of one selfless act can affect a society. One act of generosity can give birth to subsequent acts of kindness, creating a snowball effect made all the more meaningful when taking place at an unlikely time and in the midst of despair. In 1944 in war-torn Luxembourg, a Christmas party took place, spreading so much good cheer that an entire community changed a national holiday because of it, and they still celebrate it to this day.

It was as simple as American G.I.s inviting locals who weren't supposed to be invited. But the townspeople needed a party as much as the hosts did. This charitable act took place in the midst of some of the bloodiest battles of Europe in World War II and was recently memorialized in Peter Lion's new book, The American St. Nick (Windriver Publishing). The book chronicles the story of Corporals Harry Stutz and Richard Brookins, two soldiers stationed in Wiltz, Luxembourg, who had just completed a tour of fighting in the Heurtgen Forest and were re-grouping before heading back to the front lines.

The town of Wiltz had recently been liberated by the American forces and was still feeling the effects of being in the thick of WWII fighting. Wiltz, like all of Luxembourg, had been under strict Nazi rule for nearly five years. The Nazi's instituted a form of Germanization for their captive lands whereby they embarked on erasing all traces of Luxembourg's cultural past and installing German-only social programs and laws. The Germans went so far as to re-name Luxembourg "Gau Moseland" or "the Country District." In addition, all non-German holidays and customs were outlawed and all adult males were forced to join the German army. Any one who refused was either sent to concentration camps or executed in front of their townspeople so as to set an example. This had taken its toll on the inhabitants of Wiltz, and it is in this environment that Lion's heroes find themselves. The two soldiers had just been given a week's R&R after a long tour at the front to re-group before being sent back to continue the fight.

Lion's vivid description of the front line battles and the resulting anxiety of everyone involved puts the reader in this war ravaged town in a very real sense. The reader can see the towering trees, feel the soldier's trench foot, and share the anguish both of the townspeople and the soldiers, all building to the poignant beauty of the Christmas celebration. The author's descriptions allow the reader to understand the human need to connect with one another and create a happy occasion under these unlikely conditions.

Corporal Stutz was doubtful he'd be home to celebrate the upcoming holidays with his family that year or if he would ever see another holiday at all, so he decided to organize a Christmas party for his fellow signal company troops from the 28th Infantry Division. And despite orders from Army superiors to not mingle with the locals for fear they might be German spies, Stutz decided to invite the townspeople. Stutz had no idea what affect this would have, or how to pull it off, so he met with the local priest to ask for advice. The priest suggested that Stutz make the party a St. Nicholas festival, which was a Luxembourg tradition prior to the Nazi occupation, one Wiltz hadn't celebrated in years.

The priest informed Stutz how traditionally a "St. Nick" would walk through the town's center and pass out gifts and treats to the girls and boys as a precursor to Christmas. Emboldened by this idea Stutz enlisted his friend Corporal Brookins to play the role of St. Nick. Although hesitant at first, Brookins agreed to the plan due to Stutz' enthusiasm and is soon getting costumed in the priest's vestiges, which had been in storage during the German occupation. At the same time, Stutz asked his fellow soldiers to donate their food rations and gifts from home to the town's children and women, the only residents left as a result of the German imposed draft, executions, and exiles.

The party went off in grand fashion, with Brookins driving through town in a U.S. Army Jeep accompanied by two young girls posing as his "angels," helping him carry the train of the priest's flowing robes. Brookins handed out treats and gifts to all of the children individually and listened to their Christmas requests despite not knowing a word of Luxembourgish. The procession made its way to the party, and Americans and Luxembourgers ate and celebrated together. Instead of just one man being relieved for the holidays, the party allowed everyone a holiday. Only days later, the Battle of the Bulge began, which all but destroyed the town of Wiltz.

Luckily, both G.I.s survived that battle as well as the rest of the war and returned home. Like many veterans, they tried to put the war behind them and move on. Yet, through a twist of fate, one of the townspeople tracked down Brookins some 30 years later and informed him that the townsfolk were so enchanted with the kind gesture he and Stutz showed them 30 years ago that they have recreated the American St. Nick tour every year since. This yearly event came to symbolize the gratefulness the people of Wiltz had for all the American soldiers who had freed their town. What had started as a simple gesture to try and spread some holiday cheer had grown into a yearly holiday tradition for an entire community. Brookins couldn't believe it and in turn notified Stutz, who was equally amazed. So in 1977 the town of Wiltz invited Brookins back to reprise his role as the American St. Nick. He was more than happy to oblige.

And the story continues to this day. Both Brookins and Stutz have made numerous trips to Wiltz for the yearly celebration. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the original "American St. Nick," and the town of Wiltz has planned a gala event. In attendance will be the U.S. Ambassador, the Belgium Ambassador, high ranking Luxembourg officials, as well as numerous townspeople in attendance when the "American St. Nick" debuted. And, of course, the American St. Nick, Richard Brookins, will be there to play St. Nick.

In The American St. Nick, Lion does a good job of reminding us that we are all ambassadors for our home country and that each of us can make a difference. With the book's Christmas theme and the universal message of good will between people and nations, set against a backdrop of war, The American St. Nick makes a fitting holiday gift this year and a welcome addition to anyone's reading collection for years to come.

This story should take its place right up there with those American Christmas classics, and best of all it's true!

In the American St. Nick author Peter Lion brings us a tale of warmth and courage that incredulously has stayed secret for so many years. Lion did his research, and brings alive the soldiers from 1944 in such a way to make us feel we were there with Brookins and Stutz, planning the big Christmas party for the town of Wiltz while the Bing Crosby film Going My Way played in the background.

The American St Nick should be required reading, to remind us that real people are fighting wars, not just "soldiers". The gratitude shown by the people of Wiltz should also remind us that fighting oppression is something America has done for generations. The American St. Nick is a true life Christmas story sure to bring tears of joy to your eyes. Lion is masterful in his recreation of this new modern American Christmas classic. I found myself thinking many times, that the story behind The American St. Nick was literally "too good to be true", but it IS true, and the author has the pictures included to prove it.

In this day of commercial Christmases, The American St. Nick will warm you with the warmth and simplicity of an age reminiscent of Courier and Ives and Norman Rockwell. Thanks to Peter Lion for discovering a story that will now take its place in modern history as both a war, and Christmas classic!

A REAL-LIFE ST. NICK IN THE MIDST OF WAR — AND NOW

To the students, Dick Brookins vas a celebrity before he spoke.

After all, they had read The American St. Nick by Peter Lion, the story of a magical thing Brookins did during World War II.

They knew that by playing St. Nicholas for the children of Wiltz in Luxembourg in 1944, Brookins had brought a glorious relief from the horrors of war.

They also knew he had gone back to Luxembourg several times to play St. Nick and that he will do it again for this year's celebration next month.

Indeed, the students, who at-end a BOCES 1 Creekside School lass at Fairport High School, had learned so much about Brookins and were so eager for his visit that the days before his appearance seemed to crawl.

"I was just wishing Nov. 9 would come," said Chris Rodriguez, 19, a member of a class de-signed to teach life skills that is taught by Noreen DeHond.

Nov. 9 did come, and there Brookins was. He's 82 years old now and a resident of Pittsford. His hair is a little whiter than it was 60 years ago when he be-came St. Nick at age 22.

While the students were clearly starstruck by his presence, Brookins stressed, again and again, that he was just an ordinary guy who got to do a really good thing.

He had enlisted in the U.S. Army in December 1942 and was sent to England in 1943. From there he went to mainland Europe. He and his fellow soldiers in the 28th Infantry Division liberated the town of Wiltz in September 1944.

Harry Stutz, one of the soldiers, knew that the children of Wiltz hadn't celebrated St. Nicholas Day — a December day when St. Nicholas brings presents — since the German occupation more than four years earlier.

St. Nicholas Day is Dec. 6 on the calendar of saints. Community celebrations in Luxembourg are usually held in advance.

Stutz persuaded Brookins to play St. Nick, complete with robe, staff and beard. Brookins knew little about the tradition; but he was clearly in character on Dec. 5, 1944, when he donned his outfit, hopped into a Jeep and rode to the Wiltz castle in the company of two young girls playing angels.

He and the other soldiers gave out candy they had collected from their C-Rations. "It was so good for us," he said. "We were many miles from home, and we weren't going to be home. And we hadall these little kids who were so happy. Their faces were shining."

Eleven days later, the U.S. soldiers were pushing back a German offensive in the Battle of the Bulge, the largest land battle of World War II in which U.S. troops participated. At the end of the long fight, 19,000 U.S. troops had lost their lives.

After the war, Brookins came home, went to work for Rochester Telephone Co., married and raised a family with his wife, Virginia.

In 1977, he was asked to go back to Luxembourg and be St. Nick again. He went, at his own expense, and has returned several times since. He leaves later this month for this year's 60th anniversary celebration, which will be Dec. 5.

Brookins' previous appearances have made national television in the United States. He showed the students tapes of those broadcasts, as well as a black-and-white film of the first time he was St. Nick.

After his presentations, Brookins gave every student a piece of candy.

Then they took a break for refreshments and to sing "Happy Birthday" to Kathleen Holleran, one of the students, who turned 19.

Then students asked questions, wondering, among other things, what it was like in Luxembourg during the war.

"It was not very happy," Brookins said. "The best time they had in four years was that (St. Nicholas) day in Wiltz."

He added that the people of Luxembourg are grateful to this day to Americans. "When I go there, I feel like a special per-son," he said.

The students suggested that he is a special person here, too, and they gave him their thanks. They also gave him copies of their reviews of The American St. Nick.

"It (the book) will help you understand that good things really can happen during sad times," wrote Jeffrey Ahern, Kenneth Nelson and Michael Ritzenthaler, neatly condensing the moral of the day. Dick Brookins was lucky enough and kind enough to be a saint.

The American St. Nick would make a great Christmas gift! It warms your heart and renews your faith in humanity. It showcases our soldiers as brave and kind representatives of America. What seemed at the time as such a small kindness to the children and adults of Wiltz became an act that changed the lives of those people and the town forever. I cannot say enough good things about The American St. Nick You will not be disappointed.

A Village Remembers a Soldier's Good Deed

One doesn't expect to come across random acts of kindness every day of the week--certainly not in the midst of military battles.

The compassion of some World War II GIs, however, changed lives in an entire village in Luxembourg and started a tradition which still continues 59 years later.

I came across this true story in Peter Lion's new book, "The American St. Nick." With our country about to mark Veterans' Day on Tuesday, the message is particularly appropriate.

The GIs were members of the 28th Infantry Division Signal Corps. After bloody battles in the Huertgen Forest, they were cycled out in November 1944 and sent to the rear to regroup and rest in a small town called Wiltz.

Wiltz had been under Nazi occupation since May 1940. In an attempt to "Germanize" the people, all local traditions were outlawed. Public strikes had been staged, but the Germans rounded up the organizers and either sent them off to slave labor camps or shot them in the center of town. After nearly four years of occupation, the town's citizens had joyfully welcomed their American liberators.

As December approached, the soldiers of the 28th Division in Wiltz were naturally thinking of home. One GI, Cpl. Harry Stutz from Chicago, came up with the idea of organizing a Christmas party for the townspeople as a way of helping the troops forget their own homesickness. However he found that while Christmas Day was a family celebration there, the eve of Dec. 6 (Saint Nicholas Day) was always a townwide gathering, and he decided to go with this date.

Stutz knew the people had nothing with which to put on a holiday fest, but getting permission from his commanding general, he formed a committee of men from the 28th Division. With the cooperation of the local priest and several nuns, they began to put together an honest-to-goodness celebration.

Soldiers donated candy gifts from home, a parade was organized and plans were made for the Army cooks to serve a dinner to the people of Wiltz.

All that remained was to recruit someone to play the traditional role of Saint Nicholas, and Stutz leaned heavily on his friend, Cpl. Richard Brookins, a somewhat shy young man from Rochester, N.Y., and persuaded him to take the role.

The priest and nuns concocted a costume for Brookins, including mitered hat, robe and a makeshift beard.

As the celebration began, Brookins warmed to the role, moving among the children and making sure each received a treat. Later, they sat on his knee to talk to Saint Nicholas, and although Brookins couldn't understand a word they said, he would smile and nod and give them a pat on the head.

The people of Wiltz told the soldiers they would never forget this day--and they never have.

In 1977, Sgt. Frank McClelland, who had been an MP (military police) with the 28th Division and who had been captured and put in a POW camp, returned to Luxembourg on a vacation trip. He had not been present for that memorable Saint Nicholas day, but when locals in the hotel in Wiltz learned that he was part of the same division that had given them their wonderful holiday, they asked him to look up Richard Brookins when he returned home.

"We need to find him because he is the American Saint Nicholas," they told him.

McClelland learned the celebrations had continued since that wartime day, and each year one townsman was selected to play "the American Saint Nicholas," a position of honor.

In 1977, however, Wiltz wanted to celebrate the rebuilding of their city, and the citizens' dream was to have the original "American Saint Nicholas" come back for the festivities.

Notwithstanding the fact that McClelland did not know Brookins, he agreed to undertake the search.

In the kind of happy-ending story we all enjoy, McClelland did locate Brookins. The American Saint Nicholas and his family flew to Luxembourg and, to the joy of the locals, he donned a traditional costume and again rode in the parade through town.

In a post-note, we learn that McClelland, Stutz and Brookins have returned to Wiltz many times to visit the friends they have made. Each year the town . continues to have its Saint Nicholas Day celebration on the Sunday preceding Dec. 6--and each year Brookins is invited to recreate his role as the American Saint Nicholas.

Interviewed on his first return to Wiltz in 1977, he said, with a catch in his throat, "I never knew it meant so much to the people here."

The book (which contains 14 pages of photos) is a must-read for anyone interested in WWII history and a small but moving tale of the GIs who fought for our freedom.

The dedication reads "For those who served..."

Had Peter Lion relied simply on his considerable skills to craft The American St. Nick, the result would be a warm story of compassion and remembrance. That his story is based in fact only heightens the tug of this tale on your heart. It is a stirring account of how the best in us can rise to the moment in the worst of times, and an affirmation of the human spirit.

This book will renew your holiday cheer and appreciation for our troops who give their all to try to protect, defend, and free those suffering under tyranny. The easy-reading tale will make a wonderful gift for all those who appreciate the history of World War II, or just enjoy true stories of the big hearts of American soldiers.

December 5, 2009, will be the 65th Anniversary of the American St. Nick's first appearance in Wiltz. Following four years of brutal Nazi occupation where all religious celebrations were forbidden, the people of Wiltz reveled in the reappearance of their beloved Saint Nicolas in 1944. The small gifts of chocolates and candy our American soldiers gave up for the children of the war-tattered town represented the last kindness they would see before the devastation of the Battle of the Bulge, destined to shatter the world around them.

This book from WindRiver Publishing contains several photographs from the original event in 1944, courtesy of the war museum in the Wiltz Castle. Also included are photos of the modern-day commemorations. Give the gift of this unforgettable story and have a wonderful holiday trip returning to Wiltz!

Luxembourg measures approximately fifty by thirty-five miles in greatest dimensions. In other words, this small European country which shares borders with France, Belgium and Germany, was merely a pebble waiting to be crushed by the juggernaut called Hitler's military. And that is exactly what happened in the early years of WWII. Once the Fatherland took control, local customs, festivities and even the language, were verboten and the "Germanizing" of Luxembourg began. Eventually, Luxembourg was liberated for a limited time and the small town of Wiltz became the headquarters for the 28th Infantry Division and a place for R&R in late 1944. The inhabitants of Wiltz hadn't been able to celebrate any holidays for several years and soldiers of the 28th decided to change this. St. Nicolas Day is a major holiday in Europe and the children of Wiltz would be quite surprised if St. Nicolas were to visit them. Richard Brookins, a member of the 28th, volunteered to play St. Nicolas. He donned priestly vestment, complete with staff, and was escorted by two village girls dressed as angels when he arrived in Wiltz. All the children, and even many of the adults, were filled with joy. For the men of the 28th, this simple act of charity to the people of Wiltz provided Christmas joy. For the people of Wiltz, Brookins' portrayal of St. Nicolas provided hope. American St. Nick is the story of Brookins' legacy and the love and respect the people of Wiltz have for him and the other men of the 28th. Lion's book shows the benefits and blessings that come from charitable service. Grade: A