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Reader Memories: Bob Hope
May-June 2003
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HE VISITED ALL THE PATIENTS-IN A WHEELCHAIR
In the spring of 1954, I was a corporal in the U.S. army stationed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Bob Hope and his team, including the actress Marilyn Maxwell, came to the base.
They put on a show to a packed house at the post theater. Then they did another show outside (using a flatbed truck for a stage) for the troops who had not been able to get inside.
After presenting Bob a picture I had painted on behalf of the post, I was privileged to accompany the group as they visited the patients in the base hospital.
After visiting several wards he was becoming exhausted. This had taken several hours. He requested a wheelchair as he said he was going to visit them all. And he did! The number of troops that Bob Hope entertained, beginning in 1940 (before WWII) through Vietnam, over 30 years has to number in the millions; the admiration that we all had for this man cannot be expressed in words. Bob Hope is a true hero for all the servicemen and women he entertained.
I will never forget him or that night!
Jim Barrow
Winston-Salem, NC
WE PARTIED UNTIL THE EARLY MORNING
In 1943 Bob entertained our troops at Bougainville, Solomon Islands. One of my friends was a public relations officer with the New York Yankees and a close friend of Bob Hope's. After the show Bob came to our tent where a public recreation trailer was parked. This trailer was used to interview men that performed outstanding battle experiences and the news was wired to his hometown.
We partied until late in the early morning. One of his performers had a girl friend that was recovering from a sickness in a hospital in the USA. So, we made a round robin recording from everyone present for a fast recovery.
"Thanks for the Memory".
Melvin Fischman
Pembroke Pines, FL
HE ONLY HAD TO WALK IN TO A ROOM…
I always remember when Bob Hope was visiting soldiers during World War II. He came to the Panama Canal, where I was living, and one night he came to a party being given at an army officer's club. He walked in and immediately everyone started laughing. He looked puzzled and said, "I haven't said anything yet," which was so true, but it started us all to laughing.
Alice Jones Brock
Winston-Salem, N.C.
A BEAUTIFUL MAN WITH A BEAUTIFUL MIND
I, Ben Altman, former GI in World War II, had the pleasure and good fortune to see Bob Hope and his supporting show of Frances Langford and Jerry Colona in Biak, New Guinea, October, 1944.
The day Mr. Hope landed in Biak, the Japanese air fleet came over and bombed us, so Bob Hope got a taste of a foxhole at the time.
Many years later about 1985, give or take a year, I was at the Golden Nugget Casino watching the floor show. After the show, the lights went on, and lo and behold, who was in back of me, but Mr. Bob Hope.
Of course, I was excited and had to speak to Mr. Hope and say thanks for the memories of October 1944. The man with everything on his mind said, "Son, that performance was done in October 1944." The man's mind was beautiful, just as he is beautiful.
Thank you for giving me a chance to relate this story.
Happy birthday from all of us.
Former Private Benjamin Altman
Bayside, NY
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