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Some Very Special Men |
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I quote: Written with much love and respect at 10:30 hours on the 22nd day of June in the year of 1969 somewhere over the United States in a C-130 aircraft, and dedicated to Miss Jean London, a true Goddess. With much love, Bob
See actual letters
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TO A GODDESS
You know, I’ve met more people here
Not quite as sweet or quite as grand,
And you, dear Jean, in likeness, are
To live and gain and grow and love
You go to Viet Nam, of God,
Please let no harm come to this girl,
All those who see her in a Show,
She’s more than faithful, more than that,
Few have given as much as she
Yes, once I met a Goddess, you
ROBERT MARK STEVEN PIPER
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 (Left)
It sometimes doesn't dawn on us just how very special other humans are
in our lives - - - sometimes until years later. That's the way it is
with Colonel John E. Gorman. Without this very special man
in our life, it is entirely probable the Jean London Shows may not have
happened. Although John was not in our lives for the number of years
that Col. McCain and Col. Wood were; it was John who had the
initial vision and realized that he could help meet a need in
the lives of his Marines by convincing us to return month after month
back in 1966. Then it became like a rolling stone gathering no moss - -
- for seven years! |
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WHO WERE SOME OF THE VERY FIRST SERVICEMEN?
Although many things have gotten lost over
the years; through water damage, moving and moving some more, going through
the divorce, rats in the storage garage, and just plain deterioration over
the past 35 years - - - I have always been somewhat of what folks call a
pack-rat, and, although the papers are now yellowed, I found a list of the
Marines whom Jean, Sherri, Jane and Joyce first met. I share their names
with you now because they must be considered a part of “the beginning”
also. I don’t know if any of them are in the photos, but it would be nice
to hear from any should they happen to check this out.
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DID YOU KNOW? There were 2,709,965 Americans who served in the Vietnam War There were 58,226 Americans who gave their lives in the War And, there are 1,835 Americans who are still Missing In Action There are 748 who have been found and Id’d There were 195 South Dakotans who died in the Vietnam War There are 21,599 Vietnam veterans living in South Dakota There are 576 Vietnam veterans who own businesses in South Dakota
T H A N K Y O U !
Thank you for allowing me to share my personal memories of these years with you. Sorry it took so many pages, but this was a big, long War! And, seven years of Shows with a couple hundred stars performing for around three quarters of a million Marines - - - well, that can add up to a LOT of memories! I tried to select from the hundreds of negatives the photos that would not only record this record of history, but hopefully stir memories also. Some very special “thank you’s” must be acknowledged now; you see, the Show began forty years ago - - I am no longer a thirty-some ‘spring chicken’. So, for jogging my memory bank, I need to thank my Aunt Minnie for teaching me to create scrapbooks. I need to also thank my old (and I do mean ‘old’ now!) co-producer, Robert Henry “Jamie” “Bob” Jamieson for his toleration of my phone calls and Emails with questions trying to make sure my memory was correct. Remembering the names in the photo faces - - or I should say, forgetting names brought back the memory of my Dad telling me one time when I was anxious: Don’t sweat it kid, you’re not going to remember any of this a hundred years from now anyway. But I had to try and it was comforting to learn Jamie couldn’t remember some of the names too. If you know some of the names we forgot, please let us know on our Interactive page. Thanks! And, Joyce! Joyce Elizabeth Widoff - - - wherever you are - - - THANK YOU! For without your photos, we would be surely lacking. You gave us a great lesson through your talent: the importance for all of us to create photo memories for our heirs. If one picture is still worth a thousand words, my god! This site is actually a couple hundred thousand word book! To all of the Marines who thought Jean was the angel of Camp Pendleton, I thank you for recognizing an angel in disguise! I thank you and Jean and her cast of ‘regulars’ for also teaching the lesson that War is hell, as you who fought in the front lines and trenches of Vietnam knew so well, but we learned it without going there through Jean’s visits to the Military Hospitals. Freedom is the most precious acquisition of all. Then, there is someone in heaven whom I must thank. We worked with him at the Base more than anyone and I was fortunate to be able to call him my friend. He was kind enough to leave a legacy of two daughters (Linda and Debbie) and Debbie has helped me more than words can express in the creation of this historical retrospective. Yes, Colonel Jinx McCain was loved so very much by all our staff and cast and he is what I think of as a Marine hero always. He never let me forget about that silly photo of me under a hair dryer, but I can forgive him for that! This web site truly exists because of him, and if we made an historical record, it is because of Jinx and Marines like him.
(Photo above) Sorry that I am unable to identify this entire cast by name, but I shall try from the left to right: Jeanne Baird, ? the man behind, little Victoria Meyerink, Linda Meiklejohn, Carol Laird, Bill Collins, Jean London, Hank Higgins, Sheri Alberoni, ? lady next to her, Hank Higgins assistant unnamed, Show photographer - Joyce Widoff, Production Assistant - Ray Engle, ? next man, ? – I think she was with a Band, ? Base Speical Services office lady, the bus driver ?, Joey Gee, Joey’s dad, Jack Denton, ? next gentleman, and co producer, Bob Jamieson. |
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