Letters from the GIs

On his television special, BOB HOPE: MEMORIES OF WORLD WAR II, Bob opens his letter files and recalls the poignant and humorous memories shared with the troops fighting around the world and their families at home. He was the one man who touched them all. Here are a few excerpts from the thousands of letters Bob has treasured all these years.

Dear Bob,
In a crowded ship, going through sub-infested water it was a big thrill to me to hear the boys laughing their heads off at your jokes. It really brought to us, home, right there in the middle of a damn big ocean. What I'm trying to say, Bob, is that, to us, far, far away from home, you really typify our way of living and bring us thousands of miles back to our beloved country. -- John M., United States Army

Dear Bob,
I tuned in to a re-broadcast of one of your programs. It was a Godsend, Bob, and there's not a guy in the squadron who didn't feel safe and relieved just hearing your familiar voice. We laughed until the fear was all gone and "Thanks For the Memories" was like welcome home. What a real boost those laughs are to all of us over here.

Bob,
You've made more friends than any man can ever hope to make - and, better still, you'll keep them.

Dear Bob:
You were with us! You know how damned lonely we get - starved for a couple words from a guy who knows what the latest is because he's just someone from the "old country." When we left that show, Bob, we went back to our tents - we were fortunate that no two lived in the same tent. I sat down on my sack and let 'em come and I'm sure as hell not ashamed of it - do you think I was alone? I know that, at least 200 guys, didn't get dust in their eyes at once! It felt great, too, to be able to have a vent for the stored-up feelings we had had for darn near two years. -- L.C.P., Mitchel Field, Long Island

Dear Bob,
You are doing a wonderful job in helping our morale and I hope that sometime soon we may laugh with you in a peaceful world. -- Pvt. C.M.T., Station Hospital, Camp Livingston, LA

You have done more to keep up the morale of the Armed Forces than anyone else that we could think of. All of us want to thank you and ask you to keep it up - till victory!

Dear Bob:
The fighting is over for most of us but for the thousands who are still fighting their greatest battles from hospital beds and convalescent centers you and the troups are still doing what medicine cannot do to speed their recover. Please accept these THANKS for what you meant to me and my buddies one night in 1943 AND for what you are now doing for those less fortunate than I. -- Jimmy H., Norfolk 2, VA

Dear Bob,
Rather hard up for a laugh these days so I decided to turn to you. Would you mind sending us a pin-up picture of you in a bathing suit. If the Japs get a look at your super frame we know they will throw in the sponge and quit. -- Corporal Hilland, Royal Canadian Air Force

Well, Mr. Hope,
All the boys over here are in the best of health and they all said to tell you "to keep up the good work on your end of the war" and we will do the same on our end. The folks back home need not worry - there isn't a one of us who would not go through this invasion for them and we certainly won't let them down. -- Howard L.

Remember those raids in Bizerte the next night? I guess you won't ever forget them either. -- ex-Sgt. Sheldon F.

A sailor laughed so hard during your show at the Canteen Thanksgiving afternoon that he split his pants. I know, I'm the girl who sewed it back.

Dear Bing and Bob:
All I want is a date with you two fellows when I get back -- NO females, just we three. I'm sure the laughs I'd get that one day would make up for all I have missed and will over here. I sure would like to have you send me the "word", even if it is just a "maybe." -- Lt. A.L.G., 3rd Marine Division

Dear Bob,
I will be on my way overseas very soon and will be doing so feeling happy to have known you if only over the air. If and when I return I'd like to stand at the nearest bar and buy you a drink not because you're Bob Hope but because you're the same kind of a guy I've been flying with. -- A Marine Pilot

I got this feeling of wanting to express my small thanks in some way. Will let the little part I may be able to play in the near future stand as my appreciation. I'm damned proud to be fighting for you.

Dear Bob: That address is used because my respect and a real affection for you would prevent anything more formal. You have made me laugh many Tuesday nights - last Tuesday night you made me cry. The little talk you made on D-Day was simple, understanding and straight from the heart. When I read your article it was the first pat on the back the WASPS had received; believe me, it meant a lot. I want to thank you for myself and for my friends, particularly those girls who gave their lives for the privilege of flying for their country. No insurance was available for their families - they just died... Many, many, many thanks for your mention of the dear ones of those that made the supreme sacrifice in this last unpleasantness. Since January 20th, 1945, when my 18 year old son made this sacrifice, yours has been the first mention of us left behind...so far behind.

Dear Mr. Hope,
This is a fan letter written by one guy, for all the guys in all the services, and I hope I can express their feelings in these words. I am just another sailor who listens to your radio show. I am going to tell you what I think of you and from that you will get an idea of how several million of us feel. -- Ralph W., March 21, 1945

I'll never forget some of the thoughts that ran through my mind when you walked out on that "thrown-together" stage on the dusty field near the airport in Algiers. I could see our living room at home, and my Mother sitting by the radio laughing at one of your gags. For a few seconds, I was back home and that did me more good than anyone will ever know.

Dear Bob,
Every Tuesday night at 9:00 p.m. the barracks are filled with laughing, happy gobs. You mean more to us than being able to go through the chow line twice. -- Joe R.

Dear Bob,
I'd like to know if you can help me out - you are the GI's best friend. Bob, do you know some girl that will write me a letter and send me her picture? -- Joe, Somewhere in Germany

Dear Mother and Dad: I'm trying to get all my letter writing out of the way before supper so we can hustle right down to the station theater. Bob Hope is visiting us tonight. There'll be two shows so we have hopes of seeing one of them. If there was only one, we wouldn't have a prayer.

Dear Mother and Dad: Well, we got in to see Bob Hope last night -he was really terrific. I've never seen a better show. He really works in a show for the servicemen. You couldn't buy entertainment like that. He made a lot of cracks to the C.O. when he came in about five minutes late. The poor 2nd lieutenants were the butt of a lot of gags too.

Dear Bob,
I would like to thank you and all your troupes who visited us, the members of the 56th Evacuation Hospital at Bizerte, North Africa, in 1943. -- Sgt. Chester G., Convalescent Hospital, Camp Pickett, VA

Critics and literary geniuses do not include me among their numbers. No, I'm just a soldier who likes to laugh.

Dear Bob Hope:
Because I cannot write you myself, a "Gray Lady" is acting as my secretary. "Thank you very much for your letter and that happy looking picture. I'm going to have it framed and hung right by my bed for it certainly has cheered me up." -- U.S. Marine Hospital, Chicago, IL

I'm writing to you because my husband was one of the soldiers you brought a little of home to in Sicily. It was the only entertainment he had during his nine months of active service overseas and now he will never see any other. Yes, I mean that he was killed in action. It was here in a hospital ward that men, who had casts all over their bodies, laughed and roared after each joke. Then, silence...as though it was a chapel... eager looks written all over their faces, waiting for your voice to make them laugh, again. At the time your program was on the air, we were getting a barrage of enemy shells in our area. All of a sudden we heard the whistle of a shell coming very close and, believe me, we hugged old mother earth! It finally dawned on us that the whistle came from a shell on your program and we had one hell of a good laugh.

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