I was in history class in high school. I had just met John, whose family had just moved to
the Bay Area. His father had just been assigned to the Presidio Army base. John relayed to
the class that his dad had just returned from this place called “Vietnam” and was very firm
in the fact that the country would soon be experiencing a lot of turmoil and pain because of
what was going on there.

We all looked at each other. We looked at the teacher. The teacher pulled out the world map.
All of us could only find this place called “Indochina” on the map. No such place called “Vietnam.”

John’s dad was right ... a real “fun” time.

One of the guys we all remember was Bob Hope. Bob tried like heck to make our crazy
world partly normal for a few hours. Give us a break from crazy. He knew insanity, having
worked other wars.

Col. Ben Kvitky was my father-in-law. Ben served in the 82nd Airborne in WWII, in
Korea and did his year in Vietnam just before my tour. Ben was actually in charge of bringing
Bob Hope to Korea and Vietnam serving as commander of Special Services.

The post thought making “Bob Hope” part of our 50th anniversary celebration to the end of that war
would help us honor those we lost, celebrate those we’ve lost since, honor those still suffering and
create a venue for all present to share stories and bond once again.

We staged the “Bob Hope USO” show, starring Hope impersonator Bill Johnson from Las Vegas, on
Saturday, March 29.

Were those brothers and sisters ... maybe even Bob ... looking over us from above OK with the plan?

It was a rainy, snowy cold winter March here in Northern California’s Sierra Foothills until that
Saturday, when it turned sunny and warmed up to 60 degrees+. We dressed up Frank Gallino
Post 130 as “Firebase Gallino,” brought in our era's military vehicles, honored to have local
resident and Vietnam Medal of Honor recipient Jim Taylor present as well as 300 community
supporters. Many attendees served, had family who served or simply wanted to say thanks
to the Vietnam veterans attending. Some had personal losses including family and friends who
were captured and never made it back.

In the end we raised funds that will be donated in support of L.A. veteran fire victims.
Just like Vietnam, taking care of our brothers and sisters.

That evening, after the show, the snow and sleet resumed with even a tornado warning.
Yep, it was meant to be ....