As I was waking up this morning, I was having a dream. It was a dream about a time and a place that really wasn’t very nice. A place I left long ago, but somehow don’t seem to be able to completely forget. Usually when I dream of that place, I would rather not remember the dream… just let it go. But this time was different. It was of something I liked… of something that would put a smile on my face… of something that I like to remember.

As I laid there in that “never-never land” between sleep and awake I squeezed my eyes back shut. It was Dec ’68 again and I didn’t want the dream to end…

I was in a far off land at a little “garden spot” we called, “Naked Fanny”. We were all there doing our best to stop Uncle Ho from moving war supplies to the Cong in South Vietnam… supplies Uncle Ho wanted the Cong to use against our boys. It was Christmas time and Bob Hope came to our base. It was a secret base that wasn’t supposed to even exist. In one of his television specials Bob quipped, “We did our show at Nakhon Phanom for pilots, crew chiefs, and technicians… who don’t officially exist.”

Each year Bob Hope came to “Naked Fanny” and brought the troops a little piece of home during Christmas time. The show lasted for nearly two hours. It ended as always with the singing of Silent Night. For a little bit, it had been Christmas. But we all knew we had to get back to the business of war. There we were… hundreds of grown men… all with tears in our eyes.

After the show we were all hungry and headed for the Chow Hall… the Skyrader Inn. It was very crowded because after everybody left the show they headed over to eat before going back to work. It was hard to find a table and we had to sit wherever we could. As we were starting to chow-down, Bob hope and a few others walked in. I guess even star performers get hungry too. Everyone stood up and gave them another round of applause. Bob in his typical style took a swing with his golf club and acknowledged us. Then he got in line with everyone else to get some chow.

We were woofing down our food as fast as we could. We had to get back to work… the war was still raging and there was stuff to be done… we had to stop Uncle Ho. Then… I couldn’t believe it. Bob Hope came up to our table and asked, “Okay if we sit here?” There they were… Bob and Ann-Margaret… at my table! We had only two empty chairs. My jaw dropped and I stuttered out, “Shh… Shhh… Sure you can sit here.” Bob sat across from me and Ann-Margaret sat next to me. I was in love.

Ann-Margaret was the most beautiful woman I had ever been next to. Her stage make-up was gone and I think she was even more beautiful. I really didn’t know what to say. But she made me at ease. It turned out she also might have the friendliest woman I had ever met. I quit woofing down my chow. The war could wait for Ann-Margaret. We sat there for much too short of a time. She didn’t seem like a big time star any more… she was just like any girl from back home.

Someone from the Bob Hope troupe stepped into the chow-hall and announced, “Time to go… the plane is ready”. By that time I had forgotten all about where we were or what we were doing. For just a few minutes I was just back home, chatting up a beautiful girl… and there was no war. Ann-Margaret turned to me, kissed me on the cheek and said, “Gotta go… I’ll never forget you”.

With that, she was gone… I’ll never forget you Ann-Margaret…

Try as I might… I had to wake up and get on about the business of the day… people to see, places to go and things to do. Although Bob Hope is gone, millions of GIs like me will never forget him. We will never forget all of those that came to us at Christmas time. Whenever I think about the time Bob came to us for the visit, I always hum to myself… “Thanks for the mammaries ”. (No…  that’s not a typo… I meant mammaries.) Thanks Bob.

And thanks to Ann-Margaret for the fantasy filled moments you have given me. Oh what might have been.

Lots of red-blooded American men and the GIs of the time have fantasized about Ann-Margret the same way I have. What a lot of them didn’t know is what kind of a person she really is. During the time of her USO tours, she was married to Roger Smith. She is still married to him today and by all accounts, it has been a “fairy tale” love. Still, she entertained us like we were the only one in the world for her. She took her Christmas time to come to our little “garden spot” and I thank her for that. I truly will never forget her for that.

One other thing I should mention is that she has a special spot for us GIs of the era too… she always calls us her “gentlemen”. Her web page has a section on her time with the USO. Be sure to read the stuff at the bottom of the page. And… guys who were there… have some Kleenex ready. Here’s the link.

http://www.ann-margret.com/uso.html

P.S. I owe this story to a friend that also did time at “Naked Fanny”… Dan Bruhn. He was there from ’68 – ’69 too. An email from him reminded me of the Bob Hope show and of Ann-Margaret. Of course, he claimed that he was the one that ate lunch with Ann-Margaret way back during that Christmas time… maybe he did.

I finally got around to writing my “about” for this blog. Part of the reason I procrastinated so long… besides the fact that I’m just a procrastinator… is that I just didn’t know what to put in here. I don’t have any problem writing about my travels, adventures, or opinion… but writing about myself… that’s a different matter. But here goes…

I always wanted to write but was making too much money to quit my “day job” and take a chance on becoming a writer. I spent the first half of my life getting my education… going to college part time and ending up with a Masters Degree in engineering. Now it was paying off. I couldn’t bring my self to quit working as an engineer and leave the good pay behind.

Well… circumstances caught up with me. Jimmy Buffett came into my life one morning while I should have been getting ready to go to work. That was the spark that started a change. Another of the things that came along was the book, “Searching for Kokomo-Diary of a Madd Cruiser.” (You can find the book by clicking here) Not long after that, I had a life-changing event… actually a couple of them. The short of it is that I spent most of my adult life on the work “merry-go-round” trying to catch the brass ring.  I discovered that life is way too short.

I wanted off the “merry-round.”   It took a bit of time to get my affairs in order… perhaps they really aren’t in order yet… but finally I quit my day job to start writing full time. Kokomo Man was born. I started on my travels and adventures. Kokomo Man was a screen name I used to write about those travels and adventures. Now… it has expanded to include this blog.

I am still cruising and going on as many adventures as I can. Some adventures are research for my writing and some of them just because I want to. I’ll be taking you along on most of the trips. Some will interest you and others won’t. Just the same, I hope I can put a smile on your face and share my adventures with you. Stay tuned.

Kokomo Man

Occasionally I take time out from my usual frivolity to contemplate the events of the day… or in this case to contemplate the historical events of the day. Today it has been 70 years since the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Initially a bit over 150,000 men went ashore that day… all of them knowing that the Germans defending the beaches would try to kill everyone coming ashore.

General Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, sent those men into Normandy not knowing if the invasion would succeed. He had even written a speech to apologize to the people of the world that he planned on using if the allied troops were pushed back off the beaches.

Can you imagine what it was like for a soldier sitting in those landing craft heading toward the beaches? I can’t… there’s no way I can even fathom the thoughts in those young men’s minds at the time. They knew that many of them would die before the day was out. Yet… they still went ashore knowing what was waiting for them. Can you say “Heroes”…

I’m proud that my father was among those that went ashore. He was proud too. He was a Ranger… today we might call them “Green Berets”, or “Special Forces”. On D-Day my dad’s mission, as part of the 2nd Ranger Battalion, was to “take out” six 155mm cannon (“gun”) batteries on top of Pointe du Hoc. Point du Hoc was at the center of the American forces landings at Omaha and Utah beaches. These “guns” could/would have been used on our troops landing on the beaches. The Rangers sent to Point du Hoc were critical in keeping the artillery fire of the guns from raining down on the landing forces.

Pointe du Hoc was atop a sheer cliff. The Rangers had to climb the cliff using grappling hooks, ropes and ladders. All the time they were trying to climb the cliffs, the Germans on top were trying to stop them. My dad told me about one trick the Germans would use… they would put a “grenade” in a glass jar so that they could drop them from the top of the cliff without the grenade going off before it reached the American Rangers 300 feet below. When the jar hit, it would break and the grenade would explode a few seconds later.

There were 225 Rangers that “jumped off” for the invasion of Point du Hoc. By the morning of D+1 there were only 90 left that were able to fight. My dad was one of those 90. They were able to capture their objective and disable the artillery. The Germans were “pissed”. They savagely counter-attacked the Rangers and laid siege to their positions for the next two days. By the end of the three days, there were only 50 Rangers that had not been killed or wounded. They were out of nearly out ammunition and supplies. My dad was “hit” on D+3 shortly before relief arrived. (My dad was “evac’ed”, recovered from his wound and returned to the battle a few weeks later.)

As I mentioned earlier, I can’t imagine the bravery it took for those Americans, British, and Canadians (and others) to ride those landing craft (DUKWs – AKA “Ducks”) to the Normandy beaches. Those that rode the “Ducks” on June 6, 1944 changed the world. With the success of the Normandy invasion, over a million soldiers came ashore in a short time after D-Day. The bravery of those soldiers that went in on D-Day began the campaigns that would defeat the Germans and eliminate the Nazi dictatorship of Adolph Hitler.

There aren’t many of those heroes left now. If you are fortunate enough to know one or are able to meet one of them, say thank you to them. They changed the world.

Thank you Daddy

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