Gulf War
Bob Hope and Ann Jillian perform at the USO Christmas Tour during Operation Desert ShieldTo support troops participating in Operation Desert Shield, USO centers opened in Saudi Arabia. Entertainers performing for the troops included Jay Leno, Steve Martin, Delta Burke, Ann Jillian, Gerald McRaney, Marie Osmond, the Pointer Sisters, and Bob Hope on his final USO tour.[25]
Afghanistan and Iraq To support troops participating in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, USO centers opened in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar. USO centers number more than 160 around the world. Recently the USO opened centers at Fort Campbell, Ky., Fort Riley, Kan., Fort Bliss, Texas, and Fort Carson, Colo.; and centers in Afghanistan. The USO provides a variety of programs and services, including orientation programs, family events, free Internet and e-mail access, free drinks and snacks, free phone calls home and recreation services. One of the newer programs, called "USO in a Box," delivers program materials ranging from DVD players and videos to musical instruments to remote forward operating bases in Afghanistan.
U.S. military personnel and their families visit USO centers more than eight million times each year.
From June 8 to 11, 2009, T.V. personality Stephen Colbert traveled to Iraq to film his show The Colbert Report for four days in a USO sponsored event.
Other entertainers who have traveled to the Middle East to perform include Al Franken (who made six USO tours in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan[26] before being elected a United States Senator from Minnesota), Craig Ferguson, Gary Sinise, Zac Brown,Jessica Simpson, Carrie Underwood, Drowning Pool, Toby Keith, Montgomery Gentry, Kellie Pickler, Mayra Veronica, Carlos Mencia, O.A.R., Dave Attell, Trace Adkins, Kathleen Madigan, Louis C.K.,[27] Dane Cook, Lewis Black, Third Day, Colin Quinn, Kathy Griffin and Neil McCoy.[28]
The USO is also providing services for the annual "Tribute to the Troops" special of World Wrestling Entertainment. They have aired WWE RAW from Afghanistan and Iraq every Christmas in the United States in a pre-taped show from the combat zone.
On July 16, 2012 Hollywood actor Charlie Sheen announced that he will donate at least $1 million dollars to the USO. This will be among the largest single donations ever given to the troop morale-boosting organization.[29]
[edit] Honoring Bob HopeIn 1996, the U.S. Congress honored Bob Hope by declaring him the "first and only honorary veteran of the U.S. armed forces."[30] According to Hope biographer William Faith, his reputation has become ingrained in the "American consciousness" because he had flown millions of miles to entertain G.I.s during both wartime and peace. His contribution to the USO began in 1941 and ended with Operation Desert Shield in 1991, spending 48 Christmases overseas with American service personnel.[25] He was always treated as "an asset to the U.S. Government with his willingness to entertain whenever they needed him."[30] After WWII was declared over, the USO had sent out an "impassioned bulletin" asking entertainers not to abandon the GIs now that the war was over. Hope was among the first to say yes. The Military Order of the Purple Heart notes that "his contributions to the USO are well known: they are legend."[31]
As a result of his non-stop entertainment to both the civilian population and the military, he received numerous other honors over the years: a C-17 Air Force plane was named The Spirit of Bob Hope; a naval vessel was named the USNS Bob Hope; and streets, schools, hospitals, and a golf tournament were also named in his honor. A Senate resolution declared him "a part of American folklore." The Guinness Book of Records called him the most honored entertainer ever. And during his 1993 televised birthday celebration, when he turned 90, General Colin Powell saluted Hope "for his tireless USO trouping", which was followed by onstage tributes from all branches of the armed forces. General William Westmoreland spoke about his loyalty to the GI throughout the gritty Vietnam years. And bandleader Les Brown, who was with him during many of his tours, mentioned that his band "had seen more of Hope's ass in the last forty years than any of Hope's immediate family."[30]
War correspondent Quentin Reynolds wrote in 1943, "He and his troupe would do 300 miles in a jeep, and give four shows... One of the generals said Hope was a first rate military target since he was worth a division; that that's about 15,000 men. Presumably the Nazis appreciated Hope's value, since they thrice bombed towns while the comic was there."[10]
During the Vietnam War years he gave a number of high-rating television specials and sensed that the media had given him a broad endorsement for continuing on his GI mercy missions. Soon after his Christmas show in Saigon in 1967, he learned that the Vietcong had planned a terrorist attack at his hotel against him and his entire troupe, missing him by ten minutes. He was later "mystified," writes Faith, "and ... increasingly intolerant of the pockets of dissent. Draft-card burnings on college campuses angered him..." "Can you imagine," Hope wrote in a magazine article, "... that people in America are burning their draft cards to show their opposition and that some of them are actually rooting for your defeat?"[30] In the spring of 1973, Hope began writing his fifth book, The Last Christmas Show, which was dedicated to "the men and women of the armed forces and to those who also served by worrying and waiting." He signed over his royalties to the USO.
His final Christmas show was during Operation Desert Shield in 1990. The show was not easy, notes Faith. "There were so many restrictions. Hope's jokes were monitored by the State Department to avoid offending the Saudis... and the media was restricted from covering the shows... Because in Saudi Arabia national custom prescribes that women must be veiled in public, Ann Jillian, Marie Osmond, and the Pointer Sisters were left off Hope's Christmas Eve show."[30]
In 2009, Stephen Colbert performing his last episode of weeklong taping in Iraq for his The Colbert Report show, carried a golf club on stage and dedicated it to Bob Hope's service for the USO.
Bob Hope is very famous for his Christmas shows to the troops in war zones, from WW2, Korea and Vietnam and his swan song for the USO was Christmas 1990 in Saudi Arabia. He was enjoyed by all from the lowest ranking private to the highest ranking Generals.
This is the part of the USO that everyone seems to know, but I first ran into USO offices right after I enlisted in the Army, they have lounges at most major airports and near bus stations back in the 70s, as many soldiers traveled by bus up to that period.
You could watch TV play ping pong, grab a coke or a root beer, get some cookies or a sandwhich, if you were sleepy they normally had a room with cots where you could pass out and the volunteers would wake you for your flight or your bus. They were safe and it was free, they took donations, but they never charged anyone. After Vietnam they pretty much closed up at the airports and bus stations, soldiers weren't using buses any longer and most troops quit traveling in uniform and they would not go near the USO in civilian clothes.
Other entertainers who have traveled to the Middle East to perform include Al Franken (who made SIX USO tours in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan before being elected a United States Senator from Minnesota), Craig Ferguson, Gary Sinise, Zac Brown,Jessica Simpson, Carrie Underwood, Drowning Pool, Toby Keith, Montgomery Gentry, Kellie Pickler, Mayra Veronica, Carlos Mencia, O.A.R., Dave Attell, Trace Adkins, Kathleen Madigan, Louis C.K, Dane Cook, Lewis Black, Third Day, Colin Quinn, Kathy Griffin and Neil McCoy. The USO is also providing services for the annual "Tribute to the Troops" special of World Wrestling Entertainment. They have aired WWE RAW from Afghanistan and Iraq every Christmas in the United States in a pre-taped show from the combat zone.
On July 16, 2012 Hollywood actor Charlie Sheen announced that he will donate at least $1 million dollars to the USO. This will be among the largest single donations ever given to the troop morale-boosting organization.
My step father remembers the donut girls of WW2 fame who served the USO in England, we spent most of 1942 and 1943 and part of 1944 there, he rotated back to the US after D Day, he was in the Army Air Corp. Dale spent a lot of time overseas and enjoyed the USO, Japan and Korea during the Korean war, Japan after the Korean War and a lot of time flying around the Pacific before he retired in 1961.
My brothers and I all used USO facilities while we were in the Army from 1971-1992, and now I find myself supporting them because my son is now using their facilities, he spent last year in Korea and in Feb he will be heading to Afghanistan.
the link to donate to the U.S.O.
I seldom ever ask for anything other than help for votes, or campaign stuff for democratic candidates, but if you have a little bit of extra cash this year and are debating which charity should get those hard earned dollars, I suggest the USO who will be helping my son and other sons and daughters of our fellow Americans who are serving in uniform.
Yes I know that all of them are volunteers, but it does not change the fact that they are there, and that sandwich, coffee, soda, or crackers are going to taste just great, maybe they can't be home, but at least they can have a small taste of it, for however few fleeting minutes it may be.
I have met my son at the USO at Columbia Airport after Basic Training it is a really nice facility, they had WI-FI everyone was buried in their laptops
I thank you all who took time to read this.
For those that know my health situation, I am "winning" I have had a few lung issues, but the most important part, my heart keeps pumping and the pacemaker has not had to go off yet. So I feel like I am making progress, I just don't have the energy I used to have. And No I have NOT smoked a cigarette or anything else since Jan 1.