Here are Dr. Monroe's comments, followed by the text of the article:
Don:
I really enjoy & appreciate your USTDC Blog Spot! I was a
Pediatrician assigned to the U.S. Navy Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan from
1968-1970. As you have said, & I thoroughly agree, "The Best Kept
Secret in the Air Force".....AND THE NAVY!!!
This
may be a "repeat" for your files, but I have attached, below, a copy of
the article, in the Stars and Stripes regarding a visit, to the U.S.
Navy Hospital, Taipei, by Gypsy Rose Lee, on February 14, 1969. I was on duty on the Pediatric Ward when Gypsy visited.
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Gypsy Rose Lee: Taipei US Navy Hospital: February 14, 1969
US
Naval Hospital, Taipei: From the Stars & Stripes Military Newspaper
Archives: Gypsy Rose Lee a balm for patients at U.S. Naval Hospital on
Taiwan By Andrew Headland Jr., S&S Taiwan bureau chief Pacific edition, Friday, February 14, 1969
TAIPEI
(S&S)--A certain healing process is going on among convalescents at
the U. S. Naval Hospital in Taipei which is largely due to a salutary
visit made by Gypsy Rose Lee!
Wearing
a chic afternoon frock the dazzling 55-year old grandmother, author,
dancer, actress and singer swept into the hospital wards Sunday with a
bagful of Chinese fortune cookies, handshakes and witticisms.
"Glad
to see you are still here. I saw you in Japan, recently," Navy Capt.
Charles F. Climie, M.D., Naval Hospital Commanding Officer, greeted his
distinguished visitor.
"Oh, yes," replied Gypsy quickly. "I went back home to have my hair bleached and just returned."
Gypsy's
stop in Taiwan is being made as part of a USO-sponsored tour of Pacific
areas. She previously toured Vietnam, flew in from Thailand late
Saturday and was to remain in Taiwan to visit Ching Chuan Kang Air Base
(CCK) and other areas before leaving for the United States Tuesday. The
star arrived at the Navy Hospital with a suitcase she termed a
"dog-carrier" which was plastered with hotel labels from around the
world and unmistakably marked "Gypsy Rose Lee Co."Inside was what
appeared to be an assortment of odds and ends including Chinese fortune
cookies and knitted foot warmers for patients suffering from broken
legs."One
of the first things you learn in show business — before you start
learning the piano — is how to
pack," said Gypsy as she searched the depths of the case to eventually
come up with a packet of photos which she later autographed and passed
out to patients and hospital staff members." Incidentally, this is
supposed to be Confucius, but as long as I made the cookies, why should
he get the credit?" she quipped as she glided from bed to bed passing
out the fortune cookies and occasionally posing on a bed for a picture
with a beaming patient.
Her
informal, patient-to-patient visits ran something like this: "Now,
let's see, what does your fortune read? Oh, I just love this one. It
says, "Show me a man with both feet on the ground and I'll show you a
man who can't get his pants off." There, that's special for you. I hope
you'll have it tattooed on your chest!
After
seeing a Polaroid picture of herself and Radioman 2.C. Donnel Shanbeck,
a crew member of the Destroyer Escort Davidson, the actress exclaimed,
"Oh, this is marvelous, look how handsome we are!"
At
another point she remarked, "My, I show an awful lot of leg in that
picture, don't I? If they make dresses much shorter we'll be wearing
belts next season."
Flipping
over a page of Playboy Magazine, she noticed on a table, she told the
patients of one ward, "Well, darlings, I would say you were not terribly
sick."
Producing
a knitted foot warmer, she said, "It may look as though I was expecting
an awful lot of broken legs, but I brought 500 of these toe warmers
with me on this trip. They are for patients in leg casts. Do you have
any patients in casts?"
Only
one patient answered the description — little James Heinlein, 6, son of
Lt. Col. W. H. Heinlein of Hq. Military Assistance Advisory Group.The
actress was a bit upstaged by Jimmy, who explained that he broke his leg
falling off a cart.When informed by a nurse that a famous movie star
was coming to see him, Jimmy asked, "Who?". "Gypsy Rose Lee." "I'd rather see the Gimo," Jimmy replied.
1 comment:
That was one smart 6-year old. LOL
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