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 of
a lot sterner stuff than today's crop of activists
bland
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 Mouth'
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 ma'am.... 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..
I did not know this about Martha Ray....
thought you might like to read it
h/t BB
| 
No comments:
Post a Comment