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Military Firearm Restoration Corner

Bob Hope


AzRednek

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He was born Leslie Hope. He changed it to Lester to be more "one of the guys" sounding, then later to "Bob." An early job he had was buying dresses. When he would screw something up, Bing Crosby would tell him "That's not bad for a dress buyer, Leslie."

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A close friend of mine was in Nam during one of Hope's first shows. A few days before the show arrived my friend found out his company had been selected for guard duty. His disappointment however was changed to delight when he got selected to man a guard tower near the rear of the stage giving him a perfect view.

 

My friend told me he watched as seats were roped off and spread apart in the front rows for high ranking officers, their families and Department Of Defense brass. USO had requested the area be left open for wounded soldiers on beds and in wheel chairs. Hope and some other of the entertainers after learning about the seating situation came out on the stage and told the brass to move the wounded up front or there wouldn't be a show. By that time soldiers were tightly packed behind the roped off area. As the brass vacated their seats, wounded moved up front and the few chairs that were left went to medical personnel accompanying the wounded. The military brass and DOD officals were left with no where to go except to the rear of the tightly packed crowd but most left. According to my friend there were no where near enough seats and most soldiers were seated on the ground.

 

Just as the show started my friend lost his guard tower position. He claimed a crusty, grey haired Marine officer climbed the tower. The officer told my friend 'you're relieved, enjoy the show". My friend claimed he got the last laugh. Before he climbed up the tower a USO stage hand gave him a set of ear muffs. The tower held a very large speaker. As my friend climbed down, somebody started singing. My friend claimed he pretended he could not see or hear the Marine yelling "hey soldier" and trying to send him hand signals for the hearing protection. From a distance my friend claimed the Marine watched the show with his fingers in his ears.

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