As I was waking up this morning, I was having a dream. It was a dream about a time and a place that really wasn’t very nice. A place I left long ago, but somehow don’t seem to be able to completely forget. Usually when I dream of that place, I would rather not remember the dream… just let it go. But this time was different. It was of something I liked… of something that would put a smile on my face… of something that I like to remember.
As I laid there in that “never-never land” between sleep and awake I squeezed my eyes back shut. It was Dec ’68 again and I didn’t want the dream to end…
I was in a far off land at a little “garden spot” we called, “Naked Fanny”. We were all there doing our best to stop Uncle Ho from moving war supplies to the Cong in South Vietnam… supplies Uncle Ho wanted the Cong to use against our boys. It was Christmas time and Bob Hope came to our base. It was a secret base that wasn’t supposed to even exist. In one of his television specials Bob quipped, “We did our show at Nakhon Phanom for pilots, crew chiefs, and technicians… who don’t officially exist.”
Each year Bob Hope came to “Naked Fanny” and brought the troops a little piece of home during Christmas time. The show lasted for nearly two hours. It ended as always with the singing of Silent Night. For a little bit, it had been Christmas. But we all knew we had to get back to the business of war. There we were… hundreds of grown men… all with tears in our eyes.
After the show we were all hungry and headed for the Chow Hall… the Skyrader Inn. It was very crowded because after everybody left the show they headed over to eat before going back to work. It was hard to find a table and we had to sit wherever we could. As we were starting to chow-down, Bob hope and a few others walked in. I guess even star performers get hungry too. Everyone stood up and gave them another round of applause. Bob in his typical style took a swing with his golf club and acknowledged us. Then he got in line with everyone else to get some chow.
We were woofing down our food as fast as we could. We had to get back to work… the war was still raging and there was stuff to be done… we had to stop Uncle Ho. Then… I couldn’t believe it. Bob Hope came up to our table and asked, “Okay if we sit here?” There they were… Bob and Ann-Margaret… at my table! We had only two empty chairs. My jaw dropped and I stuttered out, “Shh… Shhh… Sure you can sit here.” Bob sat across from me and Ann-Margaret sat next to me. I was in love.
Ann-Margaret was the most beautiful woman I had ever been next to. Her stage make-up was gone and I think she was even more beautiful. I really didn’t know what to say. But she made me at ease. It turned out she also might have the friendliest woman I had ever met. I quit woofing down my chow. The war could wait for Ann-Margaret. We sat there for much too short of a time. She didn’t seem like a big time star any more… she was just like any girl from back home.
Someone from the Bob Hope troupe stepped into the chow-hall and announced, “Time to go… the plane is ready”. By that time I had forgotten all about where we were or what we were doing. For just a few minutes I was just back home, chatting up a beautiful girl… and there was no war. Ann-Margaret turned to me, kissed me on the cheek and said, “Gotta go… I’ll never forget you”.
With that, she was gone… I’ll never forget you Ann-Margaret…
Try as I might… I had to wake up and get on about the business of the day… people to see, places to go and things to do. Although Bob Hope is gone, millions of GIs like me will never forget him. We will never forget all of those that came to us at Christmas time. Whenever I think about the time Bob came to us for the visit, I always hum to myself… “Thanks for the mammaries ”. (No… that’s not a typo… I meant mammaries.) Thanks Bob.
And thanks to Ann-Margaret for the fantasy filled moments you have given me. Oh what might have been.
Lots of red-blooded American men and the GIs of the time have fantasized about Ann-Margret the same way I have. What a lot of them didn’t know is what kind of a person she really is. During the time of her USO tours, she was married to Roger Smith. She is still married to him today and by all accounts, it has been a “fairy tale” love. Still, she entertained us like we were the only one in the world for her. She took her Christmas time to come to our little “garden spot” and I thank her for that. I truly will never forget her for that.
One other thing I should mention is that she has a special spot for us GIs of the era too… she always calls us her “gentlemen”. Her web page has a section on her time with the USO. Be sure to read the stuff at the bottom of the page. And… guys who were there… have some Kleenex ready. Here’s the link.
http://www.ann-margret.com/uso.html
P.S. I owe this story to a friend that also did time at “Naked Fanny”… Dan Bruhn. He was there from ’68 – ’69 too. An email from him reminded me of the Bob Hope show and of Ann-Margaret. Of course, he claimed that he was the one that ate lunch with Ann-Margaret way back during that Christmas time… maybe he did.