Cover Story: Bob Hope

WASHINGTON -- American entertainment icon Bob Hope may be getting on in years - he's 99 now - but he continues his unerring support of U.S. troops assigned stateside and deployed around the world. For more than half a century, the master of the one-liner, the "ambassador of good will," one of the most celebrated entertainers of the 20th century, has brought laughter and solace to GI's. Former Marine Corps Commandant General Carl E. Mundy, Jr., paid him perhaps the ultimate compliment, referring to Hope as "this magnificent soldier in greasepaint."

This was a title well-earned.

Bob Hope was born Leslie Townes Hope in Eltham, England, on May 29, 1903, the fifth of seven sons. His family emigrated to America in 1907, settling in Cleveland, Ohio. Thirteen years later the Hope brothers became U.S. citizens by virtue of their father's naturalization.

After graduating from high school, Hope worked as a dance instructor, newspaper reporter, and amateur boxer, fighting under the name "Packy East." He found his calling, however, as an entertainer, becoming a star in vaudeville, on Broadway, in radio, movies, and television - and something of a hero to U.S. servicemen and women.

He became famous for flourishing a golf club during his comedy act. But Hope also became well known as a patriot who over the last six decades visited with and entertained more than 12 million U.S. servicemen and women during 700 trips stateside and overseas in times of peace and periods of war.

He began his love affair with the military in May 1941, when he was one of several performers to entertain airmen stationed at March Field in California.

His first USO tour, to Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, came the next year. In 1943, "GI Bob" made his first foray into a combat zone when he and a small USO troupe performed for troops in England, Africa, Sicily, and Iceland.

In 1948, the Secretary of the Air Force, Stuart Symington, asked the comedian to put on a Christmas show in Germany for troops who had participated in the Berlin Airlift.

For more than 40 years thereafter, Bob Hope would spend Christmas entertaining military men and women somewhere in the world. His last Christmas tour for the USO was in December 1990, when he ventured to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to be with troops involved in Operation Desert Shield, right before the launch of Operation Desert Storm to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi military occupation.

Honored five times by the U.S. Congress, Hope has been recognized for his patriotic efforts, too. The USNS Bob Hope, a roll-on/roll-off cargo ship, was christened in May 1997. The comedian also had an Air Force C-17 transport plane named after him. In 1969, he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Lyndon Johnson.

In October 1997, Bob Hope was made an "Honorary Veteran" by an act of Congress signed by President Bill Clinton - the first time an individual has been so honored in U.S. history. Upon receiving the award, Bob said, "I've been given many awards in my lifetime, but to be numbered among the men and women I admire most is the greatest honor I have ever received."

SOURCE: American Forces Press Service via Veterans News and Information Service