This is How the Government Entertained the Troops during World War II

2. USO clubs could be established virtually anywhere

A USO Club or Camp in 1941 and early 1942 could be found in diverse locations, in the continental United States and in overseas territories. They were in railroad stations and aboard club cars on trains. They were in airports and bus stations. Military installations in rural areas could find a USO Club in a local barn, its use provided by its owner. Church basements, schools, libraries, town halls, and local clubs were used by the USO to provide entertainment and moral support to the troops. Some offered hot beverages, doughnuts, pies, cakes, and other tastes of home, others presented elaborate shows by both local and national celebrities. Dances were a common entertainment offered in the stateside camps, where servicemen could purchase tickets which they exchanged for dances with local girls. Larger facilities offered exercise facilities, ballfields, gyms, bicycles, and other forms of exercise.

USO Camps built theaters, with nearly 200 across America by the end of 1941, and alongside them were the famed Stage Door Canteens. In New York, the Stage Door Canteen opened in the basement of the 44^th Street Theater, under the watchful eye of Margaret Perry, daughter of Antoinette Perry. Antoinette Perry was the namesake of theater’s annual Tony Awards. Margaret sold the film rights over the founding of New York’s Stage Door Canteen and used the proceeds to fund further USO shows overseas as Americans began to deploy across the globe in 1942. The story cast for the film featured mostly little-known actors, though numerous major stars, over 80 of them, appeared in cameos in the film. Released in the summer of 1943, it generated box office receipts of over $4.3 million, a considerable sum for a film in the 1940s.

3. The Americans in England found a welcome which became a global legend

The earliest American combat units to arrive in the United Kingdom, other than staff, were members of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Although Britain’s Royal Air Force had been by then bombing targets in Germany at night for more than two years, USAAF efforts were limited to short-range missions in France and the Low Countries. The United States proposed a daylight strategic bombing campaign, which the British found unwise. To support the troops, USO camps were established in Great Britain, usually open to American and British servicemen. The British had their own equivalent, the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA), established in 1939, the year they entered the war. Although they were popular with British troops, largely because the British were paid substantially less than their American allies, ENSA soon developed into the phrase, “Every Night Something Awful”.

The Americans found their superior pay rates offered them a substantial advantage when meeting British women. The advantage led to the evolution of the British gripe the Americans were “Overpaid, oversexed, and over here“. Americans enjoyed the British restaurants, hotels, cinemas, pubs, and other entertainments, most of which were outside the curve of affordability for their British counterparts in uniform. The Americans also brought with them many of their home-based traditions. At US bases during the war years, the Americans prepared and served traditional Thanksgiving dinners to their British hosts, introduced them to baseball and American football, and showered them with American cigarettes, beer, and other luxuries. They also struggled to learn how to drive on what they considered the wrong side of the road, seated in the wrong side of the car. Many senior American officers had British drivers for just that reason.

4. The Armed Forces Radio Service was created to provide entertainment and news

In the Great Britain of the 1940s, radio was entirely dominated by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The BBC, known as the “Beeb” to much of its audience, soon had competition. In 1943 the United States Army, using equipment obtained from the BBC began transmission of programs which included prerecorded shows from the United States. News, weather, and sports programs originated with the BBC. The British also imposed power restrictions on the new Armed Forces Radio Service stations, fearful of losing much of their audience to the brash American broadcasts. The Americans were limited to where they could broadcast from, and the BBC required a minimum of their content aired daily. AFRS broadcasts were also banned from London as a point of origination. Nonetheless, the AFRS gained a British audience, including in London where those with better receivers enjoyed the American broadcasts.

Among the programs they enjoyed was Command Performance, recorded in Hollywood’s Vine Street Playhouse and sent overseas via shortwave. The “command” in Command Performance came from the audience, who could request a performer, as well as the content of the act to be performed. The program was not broadcast domestically in the United States. Nonetheless. TIME Magazine called it “the best wartime program in America”. Only once, on Christmas Eve, 1942, was the program broadcast within the continental United States. But shortwave radio owners could intercept it, and it developed what in a later day would be called a cult following. Almost all of the performers who appeared on the program volunteered their time and enjoyed considerably less censorship of language and scenario than they would have encountered on radio programs for domestic consumption.

5. Command Performance included some of the most famous entertainment stars in the world

The list of performers who appeared on Command Performance during the Second World War reads like a Who’s Who of American radio and film stars of the day. Bob Hope appeared as both host and guest, as did Bing Crosby, Jack Benny, and Fred Allen. Some of the “acts” requested by servicemen included the sounds of foghorns in San Francisco Bay from an obviously homesick Californian. Another, slightly more cynical perhaps, requested to hear the sound of a slot machine hitting the jackpot. Judy Garland was a popular guest, as were Ann Miller, Ginger Rogers, and the famed trio of the World War II era, the Andrews Sisters. Command Performance appeared before the creation of the AFRS, first produced by the Office of War Information. Its success, and the support of entertainers, led in large part to the creation of the AFRS months later.

Eventually, similar programs were created to meet the perceived desires of the troops they were designed to entertain. Mail Call, offering many of the same stars as Command Performance, proved immensely popular with the troops overseas, and the civilians in Great Britain, New Zealand, and Australia who heard the broadcasts. Both Mail Call and Command Performance became major hit programs in England, to the point the BBC recognized them as among the most popular enjoyed by its domestic audience. Frank Sinatra enjoyed a burst of renewed popularity in Britain, as did Judy Garland, and Lena Horne. For both the stars who performed on the programs and the troops who appreciated their efforts, the AFRS radio programs boosted morale and contributed to the war effort for the English-speaking allies.

6. US Army Special Services led to imitations in the other service branches

In July 1940, the US War Department created a new branch in the United States Army, with its own Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) for the servicemen assigned. Special Services was tasked specifically with the entertainment of fellow soldiers, sailors, and airmen. Many of the celebrities who entered the military during the war; actors, singers, musicians, athletes, comedians, acrobats, and others were assigned roles in Special Services. The Services also hired local entertainers to supplement their programs. The US Army created a new school to train Special Service officers in their role in the war effort. It opened at Fort Meade, Maryland, in 1942. Graduates of the training program were designated as Recreational Officers. Enlisted men obtained job specialties which included Crafts Specialist and Entertainment Specialist, among others.

The famed band leader Glenn Miller served in the Special Services. So did Werner Klemperer, who later gained fame portraying Luftwaffe Colonel Wilhelm Klink on the television sitcom Hogan’s Heroes. One of Hollywood’s biggest stars of the 1930s, Mickey Rooney served with distinction in Special Services, earning the Bronze Star for his many appearances before the troops in active combat areas over the course of the war. Another enlisted man who earned the designation of Entertainment Specialist (fifth grade) was actor Burt Lancaster, who served most of his overseas time in the Fifth Army as it slugged its way up the Italian boot in 1943-1945. And famed, Russian-born director Anatole Litvak joined with Hollywood’s Frank Capra to produce the film series, Why We Fight. Litvak received decorations from American, British, and Soviet authorities for his contributions to the war effort.

7. The motion picture industry avoided wartime conversion

Hollywood served as the seat of the American motion picture industry in December 1941, and within days of the destruction at Pearl Harbor a formal liaison was established between the motion picture industry and the Office of Wartime Information in Washington DC. FDR himself intervened within the motion picture industry. Roosevelt realized the value of propaganda achieved in film, even in those which were not overtly propagandized, but which showed everyday American life and values. So, while other industries, such as automobile manufacturing, shifted to controlled wartime production, the film industry remained mostly free of government restrictions and quotas. Some Hollywood facilities shifted to supporting military roles. Others remained free to create films designed to entertain their audience, subject to wartime censorship when they addressed the war effort or the contemporary home front.

FDR also recognized the value to morale for the troops overseas and at sea offered by Hollywood movies. The already enormous catalogs from the major studios were made available to the US government with virtually no restrictions, though some films were not released for military distribution. They were converted to 16mm film, rather than the 35mm in which they had been shown during their first run in theaters. New releases from Hollywood, which continued to produce new films throughout the war, were also made available to the military. Hollywood films were diluted in talent during the war, with so many major stars absent while serving in the military. Among them were Clark Gable, James Stewart, Ronald Reagan, Henry Fonda, Alan Ladd, directors John Ford, Frank Capra, William Wyler, and many more. Still, Hollywood ground out films throughout the war.

8. Distributing Hollywood films to the troops was a military operation of considerable size

Getting the films from their libraries to the men deployed overseas offered considerable challenges to the services. For troops in training camps and garrisons, it was a relatively simple operation. For the troops at the fronts, and deployed in ships and islands across the Pacific, it was decidedly more difficult. Motion pictures flew in transport aircraft and bombers as they were shuttled to combat areas. On land, troop transports, cargo trucks, jeeps, and even command vehicles all carried films for the troops’ enjoyment. PT Boats, destroyers, minesweepers, and tenders distributed films to ships at sea. When ships encountered each other, including submarines meeting in their patrol areas, an exchange of movies occurred frequently. They even became a form of currency, a more recently released film, or one with bigger stars, exchanged at a higher rate than a Three Stooges short, or an older, less successful film.

Despite FDR’s initial announcement, World War II films produced throughout the war were censored. The severity of the defeat of the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor remained a taboo subject throughout the war. Wake Island (1942) depicted the island’s fall to the Japanese, though not its surrender. Instead, the Marines went down fighting against insurmountable odds. And, though Hollywood did not convert to war production, by 1943 it faced restrictions in the budgets expended in new productions, partly due to wartime shortages. No expense was curtailed in distributing their products to the troops overseas. American’s watched movies from the Aleutians to the Southwest Pacific, aboard ships, in camps, and on the front lines throughout the war. Often, they watched films based on the jobs they themselves were doing, developed to encourage other Americans to join them.

9. Soldiers, sailors, and Marines watched films which featured their own efforts

Motion pictures often serve as a means of escapism for the audience, a temporary suspension of the real world in which it exists. For troops far from home, such a respite, albeit it a temporary one, is wholly understandable. But the most popular films among the troops often were about the war effort, in all theaters. Rather than films depicting the home front, 1943’s most popular among those in uniform were; Guadalcanal Diary, Crash Dive, Destination Tokyo, Air Force, and Sahara. In contrast, the most popular film in North America in 1943 was This is the Army, a musical, followed by For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Song of Bernadette. Clearly, the men and growing number of women in uniform were interested in what the civilian population was being told about their efforts, as well as in what was going on in other theaters of the war. The classic Casablanca was released the same year.

Those servicemen not yet overseas, still in America for training or in support roles, were also acknowledged by the film industry. Free passes for those attending films in uniform began before the United States entered the war, and remained common throughout the years of combat. The Stage Door Canteens across the country, and the Hollywood Canteen in particular, also catered to servicemen with free refreshments and entertainment. The Hollywood Canteen alone entertained over 1 million servicemen, most bound for the Pacific Theater, in its first year of operation. Home-based theaters also became a major outlet for the sales of Victory Bonds during the war, with movies exhorting viewers to buy bonds in their credits, and sales personnel available in the lobby. The motion picture industry became as important to morale at home as it was at the fronts, and Hollywood adapted accordingly.

10. Competitive sports entertained troops around the globe

In April 1941, Commander James Tunney, United States Naval Reserve, accepted an active duty assignment as the US Navy’s Director of the Physical Fitness Program. A former US Marine, Tunney achieved worldwide fame in 1926, when he defeated the legendary Jack Dempsey to win the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship. Between the wars, organized boxing competitions in both the Army and Navy were common. Boxing events known as smokers, for the haze of tobacco smoke which hung over the audiences, were popular events. They became less common during the Second World War. Other common organized sporting events were baseball, football, and basketball games, swimming and track meet, shooting competitions, and many others. Trophies were awarded winners, with brisk competitions for them among and between the services.

During the war, such competitions faded, though Special Services ensured an ample supply of athletic equipment to allow less formal competitions. One reason for the decline was that sporting events encouraged gambling. Another was the nature of the war, with competitors often pulled from the areas in which contests were held before their final resolution. Athletics remained a major factor in the entertainment of troops in all areas, and participation was encouraged, though a greater focus on individual fitness through exercise replaced team competitions during the war. Still, at bases around the world throughout the war, baseball and softball games, football, and other forms of team sports continued as a means of combatting boredom and enjoying competition throughout the course of the war.

11. Providing beer for the troops became a priority during World War II

During World War I, on the eve of Prohibition, the US military and government condemned all things, German. In Cincinnati, Ohio’s, German-based communities the names of streets in German were changed to those reflecting American values. In Iowa, use of the German language in conversation was banned by gubernatorial edict. Liberty cabbage replaced sauerkraut as the name for pickled cabbage, much as freedom fries was substituted for French fries in the early 21^st century. During World War II, the frenzied attack on all things German abated somewhat. Early in the war, the US government decided beer presented a major contribution to the morale of the troops overseas. The US government ordered America’s breweries to set aside 15% of their production for the use of the military for the duration of the war. Brewing was declared an essential wartime industry.

Production of beer continued, though in deference to the large temperance presence in the United States (and concerned mothers) alcohol by volume (ABV) was limited to 3.2%. American brewers began shipping their beer in twelve-ounce cans, rather than the larger bottles intended to be used to pour beer into a glass for consumption. Cans had first appeared in 1935 and proved perfectly suited to shipping beer overseas. A shortage of drinking glasses on all fronts encouraged the Americans to consume their beer directly from the can, a habit which returned with them to America and remains to this day. For the next 50 years, lighter, lower alcohol content, less flavorful beer became the standard in America, until the craft brewing frenzy emerged in the late 20^th century. Beer rations and sales at post exchanges continued in all theaters during World War II, and America’s allies joined in with rations for their troops as well.

12. Tobacco was equally important to beer during World War II

As difficult as it is to believe today, the US government considered the loss of tobacco to its troops during World War II would be catastrophic for morale. Cigarettes were included in field rations. Untaxed cigarettes were sold in exchanges and in the Navy’s ship’s stores. Tobacco processors were told that 30% of all cigarettes were to be set aside for the military, as part of the price for continued production. Welcoming a new and promising to grow market group for its products, tobacco companies willingly complied. Lucky Strike, a widely popular brand of the day, changed its packaging, removing the green background which had long surrounded its logo. They claimed the change was due to Lucky Strike going to war, the green ink for the background dropped so it could be used for uniform dyes. In truth, the change was a marketing ploy rather than a patriotic gesture.

Smoking was encouraged in most military units. “Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em” became military parlance for taking a break. Cigarettes were consumed in the foul air of submerged submarines, aboard transport aircraft, on ship’s bridges, and virtually everywhere troops gathered. Clubs were filled with a smoky haze, though in fairness so were their civilian counterparts. FDR smoked cigarettes in long holders; it’s being cocked from his mouth in a jaunty angle became one of his trademarks. Eisenhower smoked upwards of six-packs per day, sometimes more. Among the military, pipes and cigars had their proponents as well. MacArthur’s corncob pipe became part of his image, along with his aviator sunglasses. The stub of the cigar in one’s mouth, well chewed, became synonymous with being a tough officer for some, especially in films. Tobacco proved essential to keeping morale high and the troops happy during the Second World War.

13. The development of the USO Camp Shows began early in the war

Following the success of the first USO Camp Show, which visited American Caribbean bases in 1941, formal plans for touring shows developed. Four distinct touring programs were prepared by their parent organization, the USO, as individual USO Camp Shows. The touring programs, otherwise known as circuits, were the Victory Circuit, the Blue Circuit, the Hospital Circuit, and the Fox Hole Circuit. All were tasked with providing live entertainment for the military. Providing stateside entertainment fell to the Victory and Blue circuits. Foxhole circuit entertainers were assigned the task of traveling to the overseas bases and fronts to entertain the troops, while the Hospital Circuit troupes visited the wounded and offered what solace they could. As more and more American service personnel deployed overseas, more and more entertainers joined all four of the circuits.

Some American troops in Italy were being entertained by actress Marlene Dietrich when she learned of the Allied landings at Normandy. She announced the landings to her audience, to wild applause. Within days she was in France, entertaining the troops who had landed at Normandy. Despite her German background, she was one of the most tireless and popular of the USO entertainers throughout the war. Another was Bob Hope, whose dedication to the USO and the troops became a legend during his lifetime. He continued to support American troops during overseas deployments until the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War, more than 50 years of dedication to the American military. During World War II, singer Dinah Shore was another popular entertainer who gave selflessly of her time and money, and the troops flocked to hear her wherever she appeared.

14. USO entertainers suffered casualties during their efforts to support the troops

During the war in Europe, USO entertainers stayed as close to the front as military authorities dared allow. In return, they often lived in the same conditions as their audience. When not actually performing they wore uniforms. They often ate the same food, and slept in the same conditions, as the troops they had come to entertain. In 1944 a husband and wife comedy team, Jane and Joe McKenna fell prisoner to the German Army. They were held for over a week before American troops liberated them, with the Germans threatening to execute them as spies. Had the Germans captured Marlene Dietrich she likely would have been executed. Dietrich had been born in Germany and during the war, she did serve as a spy for the America Office of Strategic Services. At least 37 USO entertainers died during the war, from accidents, enemy action, or causes yet unknown. Perhaps the most famous was bandleader Glenn Miller.

For four consecutive years (1939-42), Miller sold more records than any other recording artist. During those four years, he had more top ten records, and more number one hits than either of the artists who came later, Elvis Presley and The Beatles. In 1942 Miller set his career aside to join the US Army, hoping to entertain the troops. He did so across Great Britain and in the training camps in the United States. In December 1944, as he prepared to entertain troops in France over the Christmas holidays, the airplane in which he traveled vanished without a trace. The Army announced his disappearance on Christmas Eve, 1944. Despite scores of theories, including the inevitable conspiracy and cover-up stories, his disappearance has never been explained, and no trace of him or his aircraft was ever found.

15. Allied prisoners of war received entertainment packages too

Those with the misfortune of being captured by the enemy, especially in the European theater of operations, were considered when entertaining the troops was undertaken. They were denied the use of radios by their captors (though many had them surreptitiously) and the Germans balked at allowing their films. But several Western organizations attempted to ease their boredom by providing books and magazines, board games, athletic equipment, educational materials, playing cards, scripts from which they could produce plays, and other items. The Germans inspected them for contraband, and though the inspections were thorough, much contraband got through. Though not in materials provided by the International Red Cross. Based in Geneva, the Red Cross refused to compromise their position by allowing what they sent to prisoners to be compromised by the Allies. The Red Cross packages were crucial for nutrition as the war went on.

Britain’s SAS and the American OSS set up sham relief agencies and routed packages through them to the prisoners. Inside there were board games with escape maps cleverly hidden, record discs which contained the tools for escape, including maps and currency, and coded addresses for safe houses run by the underground. Along with providing the means of escaping the boredom of the camps, they provided aids to escaping the camps themselves. In many of the larger POW camps, the Germans allowed the prisoners to build theaters and provide musical instruments. Prisoners presented programs which ranged from ribald parodies of prison life to full productions of the plays of William Shakespeare. They also entertained each other by learning to speak German, French, Italian, or other languages which could aid them in escaping the Third Reich and returning to their units.

16. The Royal Hawaiian Hotel became a haven for submarine sailors

When it opened in 1927, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, established the standard for luxury in the Territory of Hawaii. Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford stayed there. So did President Roosevelt, in 1934. It offered hundreds of rooms, ballrooms, lounges and dining rooms, bars (one of which claimed credit for the invention of the Mai Tai) and it’s own beachfront, with separate lounges and umbrellas for every room. In addition to the beach, there were swimming pools, where lunch could be served to those who wished it. But, in 1942, the US Navy requisitioned the hotel. The staff remained in place, for the most part. Beginning in 1943 the Royal Hawaiian began its war service as the site for rest and recreation for the crews of the US Navy submarines operating out of Pearl Harbor. A crew returning to Pearl had the Royal Hawaiian at their disposal.

A relief crew manned the submarine while those fresh off patrol stayed at the Royal Hawaiian. The beachfront featured barbed wire, to keep trespassers from interfering with the relaxation of the submarine sailors. They ate in the ball room, converted to a mess hall for the enlisted, foods prepared by the Royal Hawaiian staff. Officers had a wardroom in one of the former dining rooms, and bars were converted as enlisted and officer’s clubs. They were assessed a nominal charge as a laundry and linens fee. Those submarines that returned from patrol to dock at Midway Island (many did when Pearl’s docks were crowded) missed out, and return to Pearl became the goal of Pacific submarine crews. For two weeks they enjoyed the amenities none could afford in peacetime, after which they returned to the extremely hazardous duties aboard the submarines.

17. Bob Hope started a second career entertaining the troops in all theaters

On September 1, 1939, RMS Queen Mary departed Southampton for New York, part of the ship’s regularly scheduled Atlantic crossings. That same day, German forces invaded Poland. Before Queen Mary reached New York war had been declared between the British Empire and Nazi Germany. The huge luxury liner was not in any immediate danger, its speed could easily allow it to outrun any U-boats which it may encounter on the high seas. German surface raiders posed a more dangerous threat, but the Queen could outrun them as well. Still, passengers and crew became uneasy, and questions regarding the fate of the ship, such as its future during a time of war, haunted the passengers. Aboard the vessel was British-born American entertainer Bob Hope. Hope presented himself to the captain and offered to perform an impromptu show, to help quell the unease.

The captain accepted with alacrity, and Hope performed the first show in what would become a career entertaining those caught in the war which lasted over five decades. When the USO was formed in the United States in 1941 Hope became an early and dedicated supporter, both with his money and with his time. Author John Steinbeck served as a war correspondent during World War II, and wrote of Hope, “It is impossible to see how he can do so much, can cover so much ground, can work so hard, and can be so effective. He works month after month at a pace that would kill most people”. Both Hope and his longtime friend Bing Crosby were offered commissions as officers in the United States Navy (which wanted them for themselves), but FDR intervened, desirous that the pair continued to entertain troops of all the American services.

18. The Germans recognized the value of the American USO shows

The entertainment shows which crisscrossed France and Italy after portions of those countries fell under Allied control were hugely successful in boosting morale of the troops. The fact was not lost on the Germans. Using agents and spies, the Germans made several attempts to attack the traveling troops, believing the effect on morale would be hugely detrimental. Another war correspondent, Quentin Reynolds, wrote in Billboard, “…One of the generals said Hope was a first-rate military target since he was worth a division, that’s about 15,000 men”. On one tour in France, the Germans targeted Hope and his troupe at least three times, missing him in each attack. Years later, the Viet Cong did the same during one of Hope’s Christmas Shows during the Vietnam War. Hope’s support of the military remained tireless, despite the changes in public support for war in the 1960s.

When combat operations ended in Europe and the United States initiated Operation Magic Carpet, the massive sealift which brought American troops home, the USO announced the need to continue USO shows in Europe. The landscape of Western Europe was shattered, the atmosphere depressing, and occupation troops were still needed. Even though the war in Europe was ended, Hope offered his services to continue providing entertainment, as well as recruiting other stars to join in the effort. Hope never made a dime for his services to the USO, and instead spent freely of his own money to entertain the troops during the war, and through the remainder of the 20^th century. He also made several films during the war years, and nearly uncountable radio appearances, indicating the man really was tireless. Eventually, he hosted 57 touring USO Camp Shows over 50 years.

Also Read: Operation Magic Carpet: Bringing Home the Heroes of WWII.

19. The military helped entertain potential recruits before they entered the service

During the Second World War a series of Hollywood films, featuring major stars of the day, were created to entice potential recruits into select branches of the service. One example is 1943’s Crash Dive, starring Tyrone Power in his last film before entering military training himself. In the film, Power plays an officer assigned to PT Boats who reluctantly enters submarine training. Eventually, he comes to enjoy the submarine service, while acknowledging all the various branches of the Navy had important contributions to make in the war effort (in real life Power served as a Marine cargo pilot, often ferrying wounded Marines off of islands where combat still raged). The same year saw the release of Bombardier, a film which followed the training of six friends in bombardier school. The film included an introduction by Brigadier General Eugene Eubank, which stressed the critical need for trained bombardiers.

Other films used direct appeals from established stars, rather than fictionalized stories. James Stewart, who served with distinction in the USAAF, narrated a recruiting film for the Army Air Forces. Stewart appears as a pilot, addressing an audience through the fourth wall, and allowing them to experience the recruiting and training process. The recruits come from positions on the social and educational ladder, though none are Black, as the US Army remained segregated at the time of the film’s release in May 1942. The film was so successful as a recruiting tool that the USAAF attributed 150,000 enlistments from its audience, which viewed the film as a short accompanied by whatever feature they went to the theater to see. By then, James Stewart was flying combat missions over France and later Germany as part of the 8^th Air Force.

20. Entertainment provided valuable training for recruits and veterans

All branches of the military used films as a means of providing training to their members, some serious in nature, other comedic. Some used live actors in various scenes and vignettes, others relied on animation. A series of Army short films starring Private Snafu addressed subjects such as avoiding scams, sexually transmitted diseases, enemy agents and spies, and other potential pitfalls of military life. The Snafu shorts were written by Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss), and voiced by Mel Blanc (Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, Foghorn Leghorn, and many, many more). A Navy version, featuring Seaman Tarfu, was also created, but for the most part, Navy recruits watched the Snafu shorts. They can be watched on Youtube and other sites, and they are solid evidence that political correctness in the 1940s was considerably different than in the 21^st century.

Bolstering morale by entertaining the troops was a massive undertaking during the Second World War, yet even with all that was accomplished by volunteers and the military, boredom remained a dominant factor of military life. Soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines all sought other means to alleviate it, with varying degrees of success. The USO formed at the request of President Roosevelt has remained in operation ever since. So has Armed Forces Radio. So have efforts to provide the military with first-run films and other forms of entertainment. Since World War II, in peace and in times of conflict, providing quality entertainment to troops overseas as well as at home has been a major endeavor by the Armed Forces of the United States. Today’s USO and military use state-of-the-art technology to address the issues of keeping the troops entertained and informed.

Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:

“The USO incorporates itself in New York, February 4, 1941”. Andrew Glass, Politico. February 4, 2013

“Here’s How the First USO Centers Were Created”. Paul X. Rutz, USO.org.

“How Ensa Entertained the Troops During World War II by Andy Merriman Review”. Neil Norman, Express. April 5, 2013. Online

“Command Performance”. Article, Jim Ramsburg’s Gold Time Radio. Online

“During times of war, Fort George G. Meade was the morale booster”. Kevin Leonard, Baltimore Sun. March 19, 2020

“Hollywood went to war in 1941 – and it wasn’t easy”. Larry Margasak, National Museum of American History. May 3, 2016

“The Hollywood Canteen Wasn’t Just A Movie”. Article, Old Soul Retro. Online

“Sports, World War II”. Article, Encyclopedia.com. Online

“America’s Vices in World War II”. Barry Silverstein, History of Yesterday. September 27, 2021. Online

“Reflections: Some ‘em if you got ‘em”. Article, Army History.org. Online

“Why Marlene Dietrich Was One of the Most Patriotic Women in World War II”. Danielle DeSimone, USO.org. March 5, 2020. Online

“Major Glenn Miller, US Army Air Forces”. Article, The National Museum of WWII, New Orleans. December 10, 2019

“Camp Life”. Article. Guests of the Third Reich. Online

“At 90, Honolulu’s Royal Hawaiian Hotel is still pink and oh-so-dreamy”. Jay Jones, Los Angeles Times. February 1, 2017

“So Ready for Laughter: The Legacy of Bob Hope”. Exhibit, The National Museum of World War II, New Orleans. Online

“Brigadier General James M. Stewart”. Exhibit, National Museum of the United States Air Force. Online

“The Organization”. Article, USO.org. Onlinerest and