In the 1940s war movies, when uniformed servicemen whirled their frilly-dressed partners around huge dance halls to the din of a Big Band sound, everyone watching knew the party was a USO production.
And almost every time Bob Hope and other big-name entertainers have performed for the troops overseas, the high-profile shows have been compliments of the USO.
But what many civilians often don’t realize is that the United Service Organizations, so omnipresent during wartime, also operates in full swing during our country’s more peaceful periods. As the only non-profit service organization devoted exclusively to the military, the USO has continually provided comfort and haven to American service personnel for more than 50 years.
“During Operation Desert Storm we got 100 calls a day from people wanting to know where they could volunteer and send food and things,” said retired Army Lt. Col. Ralph Eldridge, executive director of USO Illinois Inc. “Then when the crisis is over they tend to forget we are here, but we are here 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.”
Just ask the personnel at Great Lakes Naval Training Center in North Chicago, where there are two USO facilities.
For them, the two centers offer everything from the camaraderie of a friendly game of pool to a free place to flop down and catch a movie.
Corpsman Bill Thomas, 34, of Laguna Beach, Calif., has found that during the five months he has been stationed at Great Lakes, the USO has been a great place to study and make acquaintances.
“The USO has gotten me through training school,” Thomas said, taking a break from his books. “If I didn’t have this here I wouldn’t have made it. (The USO) provides me with a quiet place to study. I even met a girl here. We meet at this same table and study together all the time; it’s great.”
Jan Nelson, director of the USO facilities at Great Lakes, said that it is with a lot of pride and dedication that she provides activities for the military personnel there, especially since her husband has been in the Navy for 15 years. At this home away from home for many enlisted personnel, Nelson is like a mother.
“Sometimes people feel that during peacetime there is no need for us, but there is, especially in a place like this,” Nelson said. “Most of the people here are between 18 and 20 years old and for most of them it is their first time away from home, and they need someone to ease the loneliness and lift their spirits.”
Besides the free recreation and munchies, the USO holds special events like Family Night, where recruits with families can eat dinner and mingle with other military families. In January, it held a Super Bowl party that attracted more than 350 people to both facilities.
The USO also gives recruits a bit of Chicago night life and culture. Recently, 190 tickets to the musical “Miss Saigon” were donated to the USO at Great Lakes and given away to Navy personnel. The USO provided transportation to the city for the show.
Last year, USO Illinois Inc. bused more than 12,000 military members and their families to cultural events and activities in Chicago, Eldridge said.
There are three other USO centers: one at Midway Airport, one at O’Hare International Airport and the main center at 225 N. Wabash Ave. in Chicago. Combined, the five centers see a total of about 170,000 people come through their doors annually.
The concept of the USO was brought about by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who ordered six organizations that were already offering civilian assistance to the military to form one umbrella group.
So the YMCA, YWCA, National Catholic Community Services, Jewish Welfare Board, Salvation Army and Traveler’s Aid Association banded together and became the United Service Organizations on Feb. 4, 1941. And former President George Bush’s father was appointed the first fundraising chairman.
The first Chicago facility opened under the formal USO logo in April of 1942 in the Central Railroad terminal on 12th Street. A second facility was opened the following month in Union Station. In those days, most of the USOs were opened in or around train stations because railroads were the primary means of transportation. The USO facilities at Great Lakes have been open about 2 1/2 years.
Even though the USO isn’t just Bob Hope and the Andrews Sisters anymore, USO World Organization still sends entertainment all over the world to where the troops are.
It’s apparent that the need for USOs is still strong, said Lt. Ken Cronk, or they wouldn’t be as ubiquitous as they are around the various military bases.
“Whenever I can, I come here, especially toward the end of pay when I’m broke,” said Kier Slater, an 18-year-old recruit from Plymouth, N.H., who recently had stopped in a Great Lakes USO to play a game of pool.
Jason Grimm, a 19-year-old from Marietta, Ga., owes a special thanks to the USO.
On March 4, Grimm’s father came up to Great Lakes for his graduation.
“My father had called home and when he got off the phone he told me, `Well, your mother’s in the hospital with bronchitis . . . oh, and so is your wife-her water just broke,’ ” Grimm recalled, noting his father’s calm demeanor and his own hysteria. “I started freaking out, wondering what I was going to do. Then I remembered the Operation Stay In Touch program with the free phone calls.”
Jason rushed to the USO and got patched straight through to his wife in the delivery room, where he was able to talk to her between contractions.
“I could hear the doctors and nurses in the background and I could hear my wife breathing,” he recalled. “I would talk to her and she would tell me, `Wait a minute, I have to push now.’ It was great and a big lift for me and my wife, Maggie, and our new daughter, Madison, for me to at least be there to hear things as they happened.
“I’m glad the USO was there, because they’re definitely more than coffee and cookies.”
