Party Salutes USO’s 51st Anniversary

The VIP guests barely had gathered in the San Diego Hilton’s Presidential Suite when someone switched on the television, shouted, “The ground war has started!” and brought the crowd running for scenes of action in the Persian Gulf.

That episode unfolded in February, 1991, as an eerily appropriate curtain-raiser for the first gala ever to be held locally for the USO. On Saturday, many of the same supporters of United Service Organizations returned to the Hilton for the second annual USO Gala, “A Star Spangled Salute to Our Military,” which celebrated the 51st anniversary of the organization and honored a pair of recognized heroes from Operation Desert Storm.

The evening’s goal may not have been the melding of past and present, but, unintended or not, this fusion between eras took place constantly. The grand stage backdrop, built by a Navy aircraft maintenance instructor from NAS Miramar and a Vietnam vet, combined Nineties glitter with the sober, Stars and Stripes USO banner designed when the organization was born.

Actress Esther Williams, a fixture at the USO during World War II, attended and seemed a living symbol of the group’s first half-century; local socialite Carol Alessio brought the USO firmly into its second 50 years by purchasing the auction item of a day’s training with the Marine Corps, an item quite possibly intended for purchase by a male guest. (Among other adventures, Alessio and the three pals who will join in the recruit romp will experience the first two minutes of boot camp, but probably will decline the “nine-second haircut” included as one of the day’s options).

The entertainment, by a group called Standing Room Only, also emphasized the progression from the 1940s to the 1990s, by opening with “In the Mood” and gradually working up to a break-dancing routine.

The 300 guests in the Hilton ballroom paid special homage to former aquatic diva Williams, still in the swim of things and given a special USO Achievement Award for her support of the organization. Clad in ebony beading, black trousers and a sufficiency of diamonds, the actress, who now designs bathing suits, was applauded for service that included a three-month tour of East Coast military hospitals in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of the Bulge. Escorted by her sons, San Diego residents Ben and Kimball Gage, Williams told the audience, “There is nothing so beautiful as a birthday of the USO.”

A markedly noisy silent auction, conducted to incessant whistle-blowing by former San Diego Padre Rollie Fingers and former San Diego Chargers Jim Allison and Eric Sievers, boosted the event’s earnings while warming up the attendance for an evening that never lapsed into silence. The packages included a pair of tickets to this October’s Mercy Ball, which, not at all coincidentally, will be chaired by the chair of the USO gala, Vangie Burt.

“Tonight has a single goal, and that’s raising funds,” said Burt. “We’ve been working very hard at the USO to replenish the funds that went out during Desert Storm.” During the Gulf War and the preceding months of preparation, the USO encountered unusually heavy demand for services from military families as well as personnel.

“I hope this party will raise money ,” added local USO President Fern Murphy. “Last year, the tanks were rolling into Kuwait the night of the gala, and everyone was rallying around. Now it’s a year later, and things have changed, but we’re still open 365 days a year. So I feel that right now we’re even more important than we were a year ago because we’re always, always there to give that much-needed support to our young men and women.”

The program sounded repeated bugle calls to patriotism, and even the dessert followed the red, white and blue pattern by garnishing vanilla ice cream with strawberries and blueberries. The Marine Corps Recruit Depot Color Guard presented the flag and Miss California Paige Adams sang the National Anthem, but as the true high point, the event honored Marine Staff Sergeant Gordon T. Gregory and Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Anthony Martin, both recipients of the Silver Star for gallantry in action during the Gulf War.

Gregory, who twice retrieved fellow Marines from a mine field, told the audience: “I’d like you all to understand I represent an entire corps of Marines,” which earned him a second standing ovation. The same response greeted Martin--a hospital corpsman decorated for treating the wounded on the battlefield in the face of enemy mortar fire--when he took the podium and uttered the single word, “Thanks!”

Among military guests were Rear Adm. Robert Halder; Vice Adm. Edwin Kohn; Rear Adm. Lou Schriefer, and Rear Adm. Robert Baldwin. The guest list also included Alison and Jon Tibbitts, Elaine and Bruce Boland, Jane and Herb Stoecklein, Susan and Paul Beni, David Cahill, Sharon and Tim Considine, Dick Burt, Lucy and John D’Acquisto, Shirley and Jay Gardella, Carolyn and Don Waggoner, Mim and Al Sally, Phyllis Parrish, Olive and Otto Hirr and Mila MacDonald.

LA JOLLA--The “Festa Di Palio,” given the same evening for the benefit of Scripps Memorial Hospital-Encinitas, took the unusual step of borrowing the inspiration for its theme from the architecture of the hotel in which it was held.

Chairman Sara Wardrip said the classical look of Hyatt Regency La Jolla, combined with her own familiarity with the Renaissance architecture of Siena, Italy, suggested the “Festival of Banners” theme, taken intact from that city’s famed celebration of spring, which includes a raucous horse race run in the principal square. Heraldic banners representing the participating parishes annually lead processions to the race.

To capture the scene, Wardrip hung the walls of the ballroom with teal and purple banners, installed costumed cut-outs of Medieval horsemen mounted on caparisoned steeds at the entrance and built a square of her own at the center of the room, defined by painted arches and surrounded by the dance floor. “We had to come up with a new idea,” she explained.

The event raised about $38,000 and included live and silent auctions, dancing to the Heroes and after-dinner music by the Rinaldi Strings. The gala, sponsored by the hospital’s Community Advisory Board and the ninth in an annual series, this year benefited the Inpatient Surgery Facility at Scripps Encinitas.

Toni and Lee Leichtag served as honorary chairs of a committee that included Sue Mitchell, Suzanne Antinori, Sugie Armino, Teresa Butler, Pam Kaspar, Rosemary Gorski Lieberman, Mike Missett and Samuel Winner.