Photos: The Hollywood Museum Pays Homage To Bob Hope And The US Veterans Unable to be Saluted During The 75th Anniversary of WWII

2020 was the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII. "Although, the pandemic kept many from celebrating the anniversary, it is too important to go unrecognized, so this evening we remember and pay homage to our veterans and today's members of the armed services, Said Ms Dadigan. Adding. "And how better, than to hear directly from our veterans through the tens of thousands of letters sent to Bob Hope, some of which are featured here this evening." Over eighty thousand letters alone are now in the Library of Congress for the public and, hopefully, family members to read. Many of which are represented in the book that Bob's daughter, Linda Hope, and Bob's writer for more that 15 years, Martha Bolton, signed for guests that evening, entitled "DEAR BOB ... Bob Hope's Wartime Correspondence with the G.I.s of World War II. The event took place November 4th.

Hope was cited by Guinness Book of Records as the "most honored entertainer," having more than fifteen hundred awards and citations for humanitarian and professional efforts. Including the Medal of Freedom from President Johnson; Congressional Gold Medal from President Kennedy; People to People Award from President Eisenhower; Medal of Merit from U.S. Government; Peabody Award; a Special Oscar; the Jean Hersholt Award, and three additional honors from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Bob Hope was also initiated into the Entertainment Hall of Fame and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II extended The Honor of Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) and earned 56 Honorary Degrees. And somewhere along the way, he found time to make 45 feature films, some 60 Christmas specials, made five royal Command Performances and wrote 13 books. After all this, Bob Hope was quoted as saying that the greatest honor he ever received was to be made an honorary veteran. It was that unique relationship between Bob Hope and "The Greatest Generation," by way of the USO, that the Hollywood Museum is currently highlighting in their Lobby.

Find photos of the museum's lobby from the event below:

Photo Credit: Nina Prommer/Milestone Photos, courtesy of The Hollywood Museum