On January 16, 1942, Carole Lombard, her mother and 20 other passengers, military personnel, all perished when their plane crashed outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. Lombard had been working at a war bonds rally for the USO at her hometown in Indiana.
Glen Miller in 1942, created the Glen Miller Army Air Force Band, which toured with the USO overseas visiting different bases and performing radio broadcasts. On December 15, 1944, Glen Miller boarded an aircraft bound for Paris, France where he was going to make a Christmas broadcast. His plane never reached France; it was shot down by enemy fire over the French coast.
The USO entertainers, or soldiers in greasepaint as they were called, numbered in the thousands in World War II. Between the years of 1941 and 1947, 7,000 entertainers performed over 428,000 USO shows. Here are a few of the performer's names and photos. To the soldiers, they were a glimpse of home in a foreign, war-torn world, bringing laughter, entertainment and hope.
