yes, and women, and families ... ! -- j

You are very welcome.

I was thinking, as I watched this video, about the men in the audience...realizing that it was impossible for everyone to return.

Okay, I thought you were on the New Jersey. Apparently you must have drawn a straw to see the Hope Show on the Jersey. In any case we appreciated the rounds coming ashore, as long as they weren't landing too close to us.

gaiagal, this little 10 minute video, along with the
side fact that 60 percent of the audience would die
shortly after the pavuvu show, during the invasion of
peleliu (total 9800 dead in 2 months) ... gives the non-
military person a feel for the "work" of the military
during war. . Bob Hope was "a prince" as my dad
would say (ww2 LtCol).

Thank You for this posting!!! -- j

I'm glad it happened the way it did Neal, but I served aboard submarines.

Interestingly though, I was on USS Dolphin (AGSS 555) and we may have been the ones who got the New Jersey up there.
We were running the coast listening, and in those days Army couldn't talk to Air Force, Navy or Marine Corps directly...different freaks. We could listen or talk to anybody...we were an ELINT platform. In any event, one trip we heard the ground pounders were about to get creamed; it was monsoon season if memory serves and no one could get anything into the air. We had passed the New Jersey the day before, so our CO broke EmCon and told them to get their ass up here...our guys were about to be in a world of hurt. Jersey said "get their coordinates...we've gotta move offshore." So we relayed the info and waited, thinking they were going to start popping away with the 6 inch guns. Well it didn't seem like any time that the New Jersey called and told us to let the guys know that they were about to open fire. Imagine our surprise when we could hear the shells from 100 ft under water!

We all know where Bob Hope wasn't on Christmas, he wasn't home. We heard he was in Vietnam during my tour and we got to draw straws for two guys from my battery to go see his show. We got a show out in the field once with two gals and a guy with an accordion.

Every time I see the linked video I get tears in my eyes and I remember how much I've always loved Raquel Welsh and others, but especially Ann Margaret. That was back in the days when "Stars" actually appreciated our warriors.

SaltyDog, I was on top of a big hill on the coast north of Da Nang and Phu Bai. It was named FSB Roy, the only facility east of Hwy 1. In the darkness of early morning we thought we heard a freight train come over our heads. We knew we were going die, everyone hit the dirt until we saw a bright flash light up the sky on the other side of the mountains, and a minute later the rumble. "What the hell was that?", was repeated throughout my battery. The next morning we found out it was you, the New Jersey, sending over one of those 16 inchers on some massive gathering that was planning to do an assault on us. I thought we shot big stuff, 8-inch and 175mm weighing in at just about 200 pounds each, until I heard that 2700 pound round go over our heads and explode on the other side. Thank you, you probably saved our lives.

I got to see him in person at the Fox Theater in Downtown Detroit. I was around 13 (1947) and I worked delivering groceries for a Mom & Pop store. It cost me twenty cents bus fare and fifty cents for the 3:00 o'clock show. The movie started at noon and early birds like us took up the front row viewing the movie while lying on our backs and trading lunches that we brought from home. For some reason, as a kid, I was always amazed that the performers looked exactly like they looked on TV. Even though the audience consisted of perhaps 100 people in the vast 3,000 seat theater, Hope gave us the full performance and never skimped or shortened the fun.

I appreciate being able to watch that.

You are so welcome!

So very welcome.

Thanks

We saw him in Vietnam...the stage was on #3 turret of the USS New Jersey, and we were moored nearby.

Thanks Gaiagal. Thanks for the memories.