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RECOLLECTIONS: Thanks For The Memories

By VVAW

I grew up watching the Bob Hope Christmas Show. It was part of Christmas watching girls strut and GI's shout, as much as a tree and a manger. The shows were never particularly good but you always got a good feeling knowing that "our boys" were getting a little cheer from this selfless entertainer at Christmas time.

I never really thought about the Hope show when I joined the Army. Or, for that matter, when I was sent to Vietnam--it was July, 1967, and Christmas looked a long way off.

But I lived through the boonies and sure enough Christmas came and so did Bob Hope and his troop. People were ready to hit the base camp for a stand down, and even if they weren't home, at least they could see a show and Bob Hope and some American girls. But we were all in for a surprise--it seems that there would be no stand down. Hope was too important a person to be left unguarded. The VC would sure like to get him (as if they wouldn't like to get any and all of us), So only one person could go to the show from our Infantry Battalion; the rest would be on roving patrol. And that one person would not be picked at random--it seems there was a request for someone with "connections"!

The companies went out, broke into platoons, and patrolled all night. But nothing was ever that easy in "Nam. One guy from our unit set off a mine since travelling at night was a bitch. He was medevacked. We never found out if he lived, was crippled or died. But up in Da Nang we heard that Hope was booed off the stage when he said that President Johnson was proud of our "sacrifices for freedom."

So Christmas, 1967, ended, a burnt-out comedian making a name and some money with his Christmas Specials. The grunts were still slogging, the officers were cuddling up with the women, and one guy was possibly dead.

Well Bob, Thanks for the memory.