Bob Hope Steps Up to the Plate for Big A Honor

With his customary mix of wit and charm, comedic legend Bob Hope accepted accolades Thursday night at Anaheim Stadium for his longstanding commitment to the nation’s military--and just as quickly turned this attention back to the service members themselves.

It was Armed Forces Night at the stadium, as the Angels continued a weeklong celebration before Tuesday’s All-Star game.

And the man of the hour was Hope, 86, who since the outset of World War II has spent thousands of hours entertaining U.S. troops worldwide.

‘Selfless Service’

It was for this “unprecedented, loyal and selfless service” to the military that Orange County Centennial Committee representative Darrell Metzger honored Hope at Thursday’s ceremony.

But Hope, ushered to home plate in an Army jeep, quickly turned the tables, using the occasion to salute the 3,000 military personnel who stood ramrod straight behind him.

“Just to see this many servicemen brings back a lot of memories to me,” Hope said.

Noting the display around him, Hope said that while people may now legally burn the American flag, “they will never burn the spirit behind that banner.”

Hope saved his only jokes of the night for Angels owner and former Western star Gene Autry, whom he called a “Donald Trump with saddle sores.”

It was Autry, Hope quipped, who “taught Ronnie Reagan how to ride a horse,” a reference to the former President’s being thrown from a bucking horse while hunting on a friend’s ranch in northern Mexico on Tuesday.

The ceremony ended with the 82nd Airborne Chorus singing Hope’s signature song, “Thanks for the Memory.”

A scheduled flyby performance by California Air National Guard F-4E Phantom jets was canceled because of an accident at March Air Force Base involving an F-4, according to ceremony host Johnny Grant.

Grant, who is directing the Angels’ weeklong All-Star celebration, said that when he was asked “who I thought they should honor, I said, ‘For Armed Forces night, there is only one person--and that is Bob Hope.’ ”