Long Beach : Bob Hope Late for Event on Ship but Timely With Jokes
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Bob Hope was 90 minutes late for mess aboard the Peleliu but still found time to joke with his Navy honor guard.
“I’m thrilled just to find this place,” the comedian said Tuesday night after finally boarding the amphibious assault ship for a dinner saluting his 50 years of volunteer work.
Hope and his wife, Dolores, were caught in a traffic jam and then could not immediately find the ship when they arrived at the Long Beach Naval Station
“You’re my honor platoon, huh? Let’s go into Long Beach and find the hot spots, guys,” the 87-year-old entertainer said.
Hope received the National Volunteer Center’s George W. Romney Citizen Volunteer Award for his many years of entertaining U.S. troops abroad. The award is named after the former Michigan governor. The center coordinates services by 800,000 volunteers nationwide.
During World War II, Hope entertained Leathernecks of the 1st Marine Division before the battle for the island of Peleliu.
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