A great Lady
You
may not remember Martha Ray. She had a very throaty voice and was a
raucous comedian in the 1940-1950s. For sure, all of us over 70 yrs. do
remember. She was one of a kind, but another example of what has made
our country a good one.
It was well recognized that Martha Raye endured less comfort and more danger than any other Vietnam entertainer.
The most unforgivable oversight of TV is that her shows were not taped.
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 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, and 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 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.
