Bob Hope

Bob Hope led tours of famous celebrities for fifty years to entertain troops overseas, starting at the beginning of World War Two and extending into 1990. It seems the US has always been at war somewhere.  I gladly accepted the assignment to be an escort officer on his 1967 Viet Nam Christmas tour.  I had my jeep driver cover the floor of our jeep with sandbags to protect from land mines on our trip from 1st Air Cav Headquarters in An Khe and we drove to Da Nang to join the tour. From then on I would be flying with the tour in their aircraft. My driver drove back to An Khe after he saw the show.
 
I met Bob and had a photo taken with him; he was in no hurry with any of the troops he met and was the epitome of a gentlemen. After the Da Nang show, we boarded the aircraft and I was assigned to sit beside Miss World, Madeline Hartog from Peru. The rest of the actors, actresses, musicians and comedians were all well acquainted with each other—we were “outsiders” so we wound up being together most of the tour. Tough duty! Rachel Welch sat across the aisle and Barbara McNair sat in front of us. Bob was in the front of the plane with Les Brown and the Band of Renown.
 
Meanwhile, my wife was giving birth to our son, Tom Jr. Her father was also a West Point graduate and a personal hero.  Colonel Lanigan had been there to free the Dachau death camp, was Army Liaison to the US Congress, taught Artillery at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, England, commanded the Third Division Artillery in Germany and was the Deputy Commander of US Forces, SE Europe. While I was in Vietnam with Miss World his daughter gave birth to our son at the US Military Hospital in Izmir, Turkey.