The man with the ski nose and quick wit demonstrates his love for his country and those who fight to keep her free by doing what he knows best, making people laugh. He is there on the open-air stage, the deck a ship, or floor of a hospital , leaning on his signature golf club, dressed in a strange mixture of field uniform and shtick. He delivers old one-liners and pokes fun at the brass. He lightens the hearts and the load of the thousands who have gathered to hear him, respected and loved by all regardless of service branch, rank, race, creed, color or generation. For a moment his audience is transported out of harm’s way. For a moment they feel peace and joy. For a moment know they are loved.
Leslie Townes (Bob) Hope was born in England 29 May 1903. His family moved to Cleveland, Ohio when he was five years old. He began to entertain professionally in his late teens and early twenties, enjoying a long and revered career on the stage as well as radio, the large screen and television. He performed and made appearances well past his 90th year. He died 27 July 2003. Honored and decorated for his many talents and contributions, he is best remembered by most Americans, especially U.S. Veterans as being a patriot contributing to the strength of our forces in his own unparalleled style.
Leslie Townes (Bob) Hope was born in England 29 May 1903. His family moved to Cleveland, Ohio when he was five years old. He began to entertain professionally in his late teens and early twenties, enjoying a long and revered career on the stage as well as radio, the large screen and television. He performed and made appearances well past his 90th year. He died 27 July 2003. Honored and decorated for his many talents and contributions, he is best remembered by most Americans, especially U.S. Veterans as being a patriot contributing to the strength of our forces in his own unparalleled style.
Hope performed his first United Service Organizations (USO) show on May 6, 1941, at March Field, California. He continued to travel and entertain troops for the rest of World War II and later during the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the 1990–1991 Persian Gulf War. When overseas he almost always performed in Army fatigues as a show of support for his audience. Hope's USO career lasted half a century, during which he headlined approximately sixty tours. For his service to his country through the USO, Hope was awarded the prestigious Sylvanus Thayer Award by the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1968.
A 1997 act of Congress signed by President Clinton named Hope an "Honorary Veteran". He remarked, "I've been given many awards in my lifetime — but to be numbered among the men and women I admire most — is the greatest honor I have ever received.” In his biography, Bob Hope: The Road Well-Traveled (1999), Lawrence J. Quirk writes about the sacrifices Hope made to entertain U.S. servicemen, those whom he called "my boys".
To date, Bob Hope remains the only individual ever to be named “Honorary Veteran” by an Act of the United States Congress.
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