Bob Hope Memorial Statue

by John Telfer

Title

Bob Hope Memorial Statue

Artist

John Telfer

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

FAA WATERCOLOR MARK DOES NOT APPEAR ON FINAL SALES
This is a statue of the icon Bob Hope, which was erected as a memorial to the man that gave up so many of his holidays to go oversees and entertain the troops during various wars. This statue was erected in San Diego, California and on the opposite side of this statue are statues of soldiers who fought in World War II, Korea, Vietnam etc., holding up signs of their platoon or simply saying Merry Christmas or Thanks For The Memories. Appropriately this statue sits one block away from the naval yard in San Diego where many ships are retired and are ones that Bob Hope performed on throughout the years. While aboard the RMS Queen Mary when World War II began in September 1939, Hope volunteered to perform a special show for the passengers, during which he sang "Thanks for the Memory" with rewritten lyrics.[42] He performed his first USO show on May 6, 1941, at March Field, California,[43] and continued to travel and entertain troops for the rest of World War II, and later during the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the third phase of the Lebanon Civil War, the latter years of the Iran�Iraq War, and the 1990�1991 Persian Gulf War.[15] His USO career lasted half a century, during which he headlined 57 tours.[15] He had a deep respect for the men and women who served in the military, and this was reflected in his willingness to go anywhere in order to entertain them.[44] During the Vietnam War, Hope had trouble convincing some performers to join him on tour. Anti-war sentiment was high, and Hope's pro-war stance made him a target of criticism. Some shows were drowned out by boos and others were listened to in silence.[45] The tours were funded by the United States Department of Defense, his television sponsors, and by NBC, the network that broadcast the television specials that were created after each tour. Many people considered him as an enabler of the war and a member of the system that made it possible.[46]


Hope at Lackland Air Force Base, 1990
Hope recruited his own family members for USO travel. His wife, Dolores, sang from atop an armored vehicle during the Desert Storm tour, and his granddaughter, Miranda, appeared alongside Hope on an aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean.[44] Of Hope's USO shows in World War II, writer John Steinbeck, who was then working as a war correspondent, wrote in 1943:
When the time for recognition of service to the nation in wartime comes to be considered, Bob Hope should be high on the list. This man drives himself and is driven. It is impossible to see how he can do so much, can cover so much ground, can work so hard, and can be so effective. He works month after month at a pace that would kill most people.[47]
For his service to his country through the USO, he was awarded the Sylvanus Thayer Award by the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1968.[48] A 1997 act of Congress signed by President Bill 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."[49] In homage to Hope, Stephen Colbert carried a golf club on stage each night during his own week of USO performances, which were taped for his TV show, The Colbert Report, during the 2009 season.
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March 29th, 2012

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