Fr. ROBERT H. WRIGHT
ATTU SCRAPBOOK PAGE
I was stationed on Attu from early August
1943 until summer of 1944. During that time (spring of 1944 if I
remember correctly)) Earl Flynn also brought his USO troupe to Attu as
well as Shemya. It was held in the large building near the 8th Special
Btn. that was used not only for movies, but also for many other things
such as church services. The fine young Lutheran Chaplain was named
Robert E. Lee (Guess where he was from).
Some how, I was lucky enough to get selected to see the show. One of the
members of the USO troupe was a young actress named Martha O'Driscoll.
She was one of the Hollywood starlets called "sweater girls, that looked
really good in their tight fitting sweaters that were popular at the
time. In one of the skits Martha O'Driscoll was one of the girls paying
nurses. Earl Flynn was one of the guys playing their dates who were
trying to talk the nurses into staying out later. Martha O'Driscoll
said, "We really have to go in now, or we will be out after hours. Earl
Flynn replied, "that all right, honey, we're out after ours to. At that,
Martha started laughing so hard that her firm young breasts in that
tight sweater put on a show that was a lovely sight to behold. When she
had quit laughing, some guy in the audience yelled out, "Mister Flynn,
make her laugh some more." At that, Martha started blushing and turned
as red a beet. It was good to know that at least one actress in
Hollywood still knew how to blush.
Also in the USO troupe was a young girl that I had sat next to in a
Sociology class in college. I remember that one time I had on a Scottish
wool plaid shirt that used the same Scottish clan design as did this
Coed's wool skirt. She was really cute, and was named "Betty coed" for
some occasion or other. When the show was over I proudly told my Seabee
buddies that I knew that girl. You can imagine how many of them believed
one word of what I said. A little later, some one told us that the USO
troupe was over at the Ship's Service, so we all walked over. Once there
I went over to the table where "Betty Coed" was sitting (I can't
remember her name) and had a nice visit catching up on what each had
been doing since that year we were both at the University of North
Carolina together. All of which made me a Big Shot---for all of about an
hour.
A little time after that some of us in the 8th Special Btn. got together
and officially name Martha O'Driscoll the "Girl we would rather be
behind the 8 Ball with." It gave both us and her some publicity.
A few years ago I decided to see if I could find out what had happened
to Martha O'Driscoll. I called the public library in Jacksonville, FL,
and they gave me all sorts if information on her. It seems she had
married a very wealthy industrialist from Chicago, and had left
Hollywood. She became very involved in many charitable and other
worthwhile causes, and was very generous with her time and her money.
She and her husband wintered on one of the beautiful little islands
between Miami and Miami Beach. I wrote her at her Florida address, and
received a nice hand written response from her, thanking me for
remembering her after all these years.
S 1/c Robert H. Wright
8th Special Naval Battalion
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1. Some time in
1943-1944
The large Quonset Hut that was used for movies, church services, the
Earl Flynn/Martha O'Driscol USO Show, etc. Also had showers and a sauna.
As I remember, it was about a half a mile or so down a field from where
our 8th Special Battalion was located.
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2. Taken during
the winter of 1943-44. |
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3. Mountain
near our Stevedore Base. |
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4. We were to
go thru here to store ammunition in the mountains. |
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Last Updated:
06 Aug 2006 02:05 PM
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since 6 August 2006
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