European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 21, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Why Magazine on the Road to everywhere by Bob Hope for the los Angeles times have been Hilling the Foad since Bing and i made Iracks to Bali. Moroco Utopia and other places too numerous to mention on the Way i be Mot sultans and Rajah Kings and Queens presidents and commissars astronauts and admirals i be done shows in hangars warehouses embassies. The while House the London palladium. Washington s Kennedy Center on aircraft earners and in cargo planes Lour Miles at Vul t Arlen a the Lime i Learned up with Crosby and took Iho Road to Zanzibar. I had discovered thai i enjoy travel  to faraway spots my overseas adventures began in 1941. Aller doing a show at March Field near Riverside. Calif. I was hooked and began a Romance with american gis that s lasted nearly so years through Izreo wars and More recently the crises in Lebanon and the persian Gull. There Are Many memories of he places to visited while roaming the world Landing in places like Iceland the Caribbean. Alaska. Korea. Vietnam Morocco and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Once in the Yukon i asked an audience. Would you like to Hoar Jayne Mansfield sing and a go shouted Back. I d be satisfied to see her breathe " another time in Greenland we d wrapped up the show with go Runph winds howling outside and to headed Lor bed then the phone rang. Mansfield was hysterical she d lost a Diamond earring in the Snow. Jayne go Back to bed i told her it s Pilch Black outside 20 below Zero and a Gale is blowing. No Man in his right mind is going to search 50.000 acres of Snow in a blizzard " i was wrong outside my window i saw a gang of gis with flashlights searching for Mansfield s earring what s More they Lound it another moment i la Long cherish occurred on a Bleak drizzly Day in a a during the preceding week in Vietnam Danang had earned its nickname Dodge City from Iho enemy shells that had Lorn in to pieces. Aware of the dangers Jack Jones slopped up on stage and. By Leto Tautic Iriny Inlo his Lirosi number turned to los Brown and deadpanned los in there s an enemy attack Cut my second  once i go caught in an and lib session with a kid at a weather station 20,000 loot below our plane Over the Atlantic. To were returning Home via Labrador it was 4 in the morning when the Pilot woke me. A voice Over the radio said this was Ocean station Bravo. How you doing up there sorry we missed your   i said you Guys stationed out Here away irom the smog and Frallic really got in  Guy cracked Back they had to give us the Job we own Iho thermometer " travel keeps me Young physically and mentally we All need excitement and what s More exciting than seeing new faces new customs and different cultures sometimes the reactions of people in foreign lands Are jus Plain hilarious like the time i carried a Golf club Down Beijing s main drag and strolled in to the lobby of the Beijing hotel and chinese guests reached out to shake hands asking. Hoy Bob How Are you wow i thought o myself Here i was in China and the people knew who i. Was ii was later that i Learned they were chinese americans from san Francisco. Sometimes i get an uneasy feeling i m living on borrowed Lime when i recall some of the close Calls i be had during and Afler the wars we missed being blown up in Saigon by 10 minutes thanks to a delay in our drive irom the Airport nearly 100 were killed or injured by a bomb that our intelligence people suspected was meant Lor us on a flight to Alaska during world War ii our radio went out in heavy log after almost colliding with a commercial aircraft we managed to come in on a single beam irom an anti aircraft Searchlight. On another Light our plane was hit by lightning Between North Africa and Spain and on another the Viel Cong blasted us Over Nam during a world War ii comedian Bob Hope interviewing an airman at Clark Abin the Philippines during his 1987 Christmas tour. Tour to Sydney an engine on our Navy Catalina began to sputter. The Pilot Lealh ored the engine and yelled Jettison  we threw out Luggage oxygen tanks food and cases of cigarettes Afler nursing us Over several Mountain ranges Iho Pilot sighted a Small Bay and ordered everybody Brace lie Flat on the  we skipped across the water and slammed Inlo a Sand bar. Silting on the Wing we spotted an aussie Fisherman rowing toward us he smiled and asked got any american cigarettes males forty years later when i was doing shows for our sailors and airmen aboard a naval ship off Lebanon we were advised not logo ashore. But on Christmas morning. I coaxed a Pilot to Fly me to the Marine compound on Shore a Lew feet above he water the Pilot warned me. Tighten your seat Belt we May have to do some Lancy Hying to Dodge the guerrilla fire later when i resumed Home Johnny Grant handed me the remains of a Shell that had landed a Hall hour later where i d been standing. On Long Tours you Lind yourself climbing in and out of planes daily flying becomes routine and you Slop worrying about  you d arrive safely. At Vicenza. Italy our plane was being a elected when the Pilot smelled strange fumes and decided something was wrong. Mistakenly fuel used by Jet lighters had been pumped had we taken off our Piston engine plane could have exploded in midair. I manage to Deal with Jet lag fairly Well for a Man my age. For example i got in the habit of ignoring Lime zones in the War years. Once during a Vietnam tour i flew 23,000 Miles crossed the International Dale line twice and put on 24 scheduled and Impromptu shows. On one wild fast paced trip last december i Wen around the world in eight Days doing eight shows in the Pacific the Atlantic Indian Ocean Europe and the persian Gulf travelling nearly 27,000 Miles in an air Force cargo plane. The Jet lag atone was enough to Knock out a Marathon runner and much of the time to got Only two to four hours sleep. Back at Van Guys Airport in California i told our producer Elliott Kozak never again a few weeks Laler i was off to Korea to tape a pro olympics show in scout followed by a visit to the demilitarized zone to entertain the Guys on duly in that forsaken place. Before leaving Home on a Long might i drink lots of water and watch my diet. My suitcase is always packed and our housekeeper has a checklist to make sure All my goodies Are in it. Someone is always asking Why i be taken so Many trips into so called hot  my answer is that i enjoy entertaining our troops Doris Day who accompanied to on some of my shows called the Tours frightening educational enjoyable depressing and  As she wrote in her autobiography we olten flow through storms. Thai had me praying More than  i la never forget my first plane trip. I was slightly nervous. A Little old lady sat next to me. She was very Calm so i asked in she hew olten. Yes she said i do. I m hired by the airline to make people like you feel  since then i be Learned to be More at Case on a plane. My theme song of course is thanks Lor the memories and that s what travel s All about. Wednesday december 21, 1988 the stars and stripes Page 13