Major Bob
A STORY OF HOPE
By Robert F. Broyles
Once upon a time, long ago and far away, a young American Army Major named Bob was in a war. He was in Vietnam, with the 25th Infantry Division in Cu Chi.
One day, the Major General summoned young Major Bob to his inner sanctum and told him that he, Major Bob, had been selected to produce the Bob Hope Christmas Show for the division. It was 1968.
Now, Major Bob had a little background on the periphery of such things — a journalism degree, some experience with the media, and experience in matters of protocol and dealing with high level people — but producing a big TV show, with big stars? Hah!
Major Bob was a pretty good soldier, though, so he said, “Yes, Sir” and went out to figure out what the hell to do.
The Golddiggers
Some things were pretty obvious (building an arena and stage, arranging logistics and security) so he assembled a staff and set to work on those. On some other things, about the intricacies of doing a major television show, he needed a tad of enlightenment. So he set out learning about them. He went to Saigon and conferred with others who had done previous shows or knew about the requirements. And he arranged to fly up to Da Nang to see the show up there to confirm all that he had learned.
One of the special little things he did, after learning that Bob Hope had once been a prize fighter and had used the name Packy East, was to have a big banner made and hung in the rear of the amphitheatre, facing the stage where Hope could see it. It read, “Welcome back, Packy East!” Mr. Hope later, much later (I will tell you about that) said to Major Bob that it gave him a real boost to his own morale to see that banner.
Well, the big day came and Major Bob and the Major General and a bunch of military police and lots of vehicles met the Bob Hope entourage at the airfield and took them to the amphitheatre. That amphitheatre was a huge bowl-shaped thing, something like a football stadium but not quite so large. The 25th Infantry Division is called the Tropic Lightning Division because its home is in Hawaii. So the place was called the Lightning Bowl.
The planes arrived and out came Bob Hope, Ann-Margret, Roosevelt Grier (the former LA Rams football star), Roger Smith (from the TV show 77 Sunset Strip but more importantly, Ann’s husband), Miss World, the Golddiggers – a group of gorgeous girl dancers who were regulars on Dean Martin’s TV show, and some lesser lights. Plus Les Brown and His Band of Reknown.
Ann-Margret
Major Bob had met them all in Da Nang and he introduced them to the Major General, then they all piled in the jeeps and trucks and went to the Lightning Bowl. The performers went to their dressing rooms to get ready. Major Bob had put a bottle of champagne in Ann-Margret’s dressing room and he got a big kiss for that. He decided that whatever else happened, that day was a huge success.
The band got all set up and everyone was ready to go. The Major General got to make the introductions for national television (Major Bob did get to introduce Gypsy Rose Lee when she came to perform for the troops later but that wasn’t on national TV). And the show began.
Having done about all that he could do to put it all together, Major Bob spent some interesting time chatting with Rosy Greer in his dressing room during the show. Rosy was doing his famous needle-point to relax until he went on. Then the Major visited in the dressing room with Roger Smith. (Poor Roger was not well and needed to rest, but he felt like talking). Yeah, poor Roger, married to Ann-Margret!
About two-thirds of the way through the show something went terribly wrong. The enemy began to fire mortars and rockets at the base. Huge explosions rocked the area and bright fire balls lit up the sky. The Major General, Major Bob and the handlers traveling with Bob Hope decided to get them the hell out of there. So the show was terminated, we loaded them all in the jeeps and trucks, and hauled them out to the airstrip. Bob Hope rode with Major Bob. Mr. Hope, that brave man who had traveled to some of the most dangerous places in the world during World War II and the Korean War, as well as earlier years in Vietnam, was scared to death. His eyes were big as saucers and he jumped at every explosion. The good thing was that he was smart enough to be scared, not stupidly arrogant.
Bob Hope
The group’s departure was delayed a bit while someone retrieved one of the performers from the base hospital. She had contracted a severe stomach ailment and needed treatment.
Finally, they got in the air and Major Bob watched them fly away to safety. Relative safety, that is, because they had another show to do somewhere else in Vietnam the next day.
All in all, except for those naughty people with the rockets and bombs, it had all gone very well. The Major General was happy and later he was told that Bob Hope was happy, too. Major Bob got a medal and so did lots of his staff.
In 1969 Major Bob came home from Vietnam and went on about his Army career. That career took him to some interesting places but the most interesting one as far as this story is concerned was West Point. In the early 1970s Major Bob found himself the Chief of Protocol at the United States Military Academy at West Point. The Major, his wife, Sally, and their three sons loved it there and were having a wonderful time in that special environment.
The Bob hope Show – 1969
One day, Bob Hope and his wife, Dolores, came to West Point to see a football game as official guests of the Superintendent who was a Lieutenant General. The official party, which included Major Bob and Sally, gathered at the Superintendent’s big house for a party before the game and then were transported to the stadium with a military police escort. They all got to sit in the Superintendent’s Lodge which was covered, had arm-chairs, and a private snack bar. All a very nice way to watch the cadets lose another game to someone twice their size.
After the game, the official party returned to the Superintendent’s house (the Army calls them “Quarters” – a nice name for a 5,000 square foot house) for dinner. After dinner, Sally was looking for Major Bob and Dolores was looking for her Bob. They went to the front door and lo and behold, there stood Bob Hope and Major Bob. Just the two of them chatting like old friends.
Well, in a way they were. Bob Hope had been humming “I’ll take Manhattan” there on the big veranda overlooking the Hudson River valley, and he and Major Bob were reminiscing about 1968 in Vietnam. Mr. Hope remembered that Packy East banner and that is when he told Major Bob how much he appreciated it, how it had actually boosted his own morale to know they had cared enough to do that for him. It was a special treat for Major Bob to have that time with Mr. Hope, a truly nice and generous man who gave so much to our fighting men and women all over the world.
The next day Bob and Dolores Hope left West Point and Major Bob and Sally never saw them again. But those experiences created some warm memories which are still fun to recall today.
Bob Hope died shortly after his 100th birthday. Dolores, too, made it to 100 and died at their home in Palm Springs, California. Colonel Bob and Sally are retired and living in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.