I will always respect Bob Hope for the entertainment he brought to the troops both during hot wars and the intervening cold wars that bridged the gaps between the shooting ones. He unselfishly gave up his holidays at how with his family so we could see a bit of home and, "what we are fighting for."

Over the years Bob Hope had to have ammased more overseas time than I did in my 26 years in the military, and it was all during what was Christmas time for those in the states, and all one night stands. I've done my share of bag-drags, one and two day trips to locations far from home and it isn't fun at the best of times, and even less fun over holidays.

Bob and his crew made the holicays just that little bit better for those of us who could gert away to see him. He may have been a hard nosed perfectionist, but he wasn't near as bad as our senior NCOS, and we understood the need he felt to give the best he and his gang had for the troops.

Dave