The late Bob Hope was justly famed for his entertainment of troops in combat zones from World War II to the Gulf War when he was 89. He and the actors and actresses who accompanied him received not a penny for their hard work. I recall an incident from World War II:
He made a practice of visiting wounded soldiers in hospitals, although it tore his guts out. He told the actors and actresses who accompanied him that there was one iron rule, no tears in front of the troops.
In 1943 on the Italian front he was talking, a one sided conversation to be sure, to a soldier who had been in a coma for two months. The soldier suddenly came out of the coma and said: “Bob Hope! How long have you been here?”. Hope had to excuse himself, quickly went outside and bawled his eyes out. He returned a few hours later to joke with the soldier and present him with a purple heart.
