- MarthaRaye.Jpg (35.37 KiB) Viewed 39619 times
Remember Martha Raye?
The most unforgivable oversight of TV is that her shows were not taped.
This is a great story about a great woman. I was unaware of her credentials or where she is buried.
Somehow I just can't see Brittany Spears, Paris Hilton, or Jessica Simpson doing what this woman
(and the other USO women, including Ann Margaret & Joey Heatherton) did for our troops in past
wars. Most of the old time entertainers were made out of a lot sterner stuff than today's crop of activists and whiners.
The following is from an Army Aviator who takes a trip down memory lane:
It was just before Thanksgiving '67 and we were ferrying dead and wounded from a large GRF west
of Pleiku. We had run out of body bags by noon, so the Hook (CH-47 CHINOOK) was pretty rough
in the back. All of a sudden, we heard a 'take-charge' woman's voice in the rear. There was the singer
and actress, Martha Raye, with a SF (Special Forces) beret and jungle fatigues, with subdued markings,
helping the wounded into the Chinook, and carrying the dead aboard. 'Maggie' had been visiting her
SF 'heroes' out 'west'.
We took off, short of fuel, and headed to the USAF hospital pad at Pleiku. As we all started unloading
our sad pax's, a 'Smart Ass' USAF Captain said to Martha.... Ms Ray, with all these dead and wounded
to process, there would not be time for your show! To all of our surprise, she pulled on her right collar
and said.....Captain, see this eagle? I am a full 'Bird' in the US Army Reserve, and on this is a 'Caduceus'
which means I am a Nurse, with a surgical specialty....now, take me to your wounded. He said, 'yes mam....
Follow me.' Several times at the Army Field Hospital in Pleiku, she would 'cover' a surgical shift, giving
a nurse a well-deserved break.
Martha is the only woman buried in the SF (Special Forces) cemetery at Ft Bragg.
Hand Salute! A great lady..