INTERVIEW: Khrystyne Haje remembers holiday trip with Bob Hope

It’s a tradition during the holidays to spend some relaxing time with family and friends, perhaps around a Christmas tree, perhaps around a crackling fire. It’s also the time of year to remember those who are unable to be around the family hearth, and at the top of that list are American troops serving overseas.

Bob Hope, the famous comedian, knew well the difficulties that troops faced around the holidays, and that’s why he organized so many tours to visit the service men and women at this time of year. Some of his comedic performances on the road have now been compiled into a three-disc DVD set called Bob Hope Salutes the Troops.

Included in the footage of these comedy specials is Hope’s 1991 trip to the Persian Gulf at the height of the Desert Storm conflict. Joining him on this United Service Organization (USO) tour were Khrystyne Haje, who starred in Head of Class; Marie Osmond; Ann Jillian; and The Pointer Sisters.

“This was during the Persian Gulf War, and President George Bush Sr. at the time had issued Saddam Hussein a firm deadline,” Haje said in a phone interview earlier this year. “We had all of our men and women over there on ships, aircraft carriers, in bases. One of the things I remember was what they did in such a short amount of time. Like all of the bases that went up in these sand dunes was stunning.”

Hope asked Haje if she would join his “band of gypsies” and head to the Persian Gulf for Christmas. This was a dream come true, especially since Haje had had a crush on Hope since she was a little girl.

“I grew up watching the reruns,” Haje said of Hope’s famous comedy shows over the years. “The roadshows aired in black and white on television when I was a little girl, and I had always wanted to be in one of the roadshows. I wanted to grow up and be Dorothy Lamour.”

She was 20-21 at the time of this trip, and her decision to join was almost instant. She was ready to celebrate Christmas with the troops overseas, but she admitted that Hussein, who was threatening to use chemical weapons at the time, gave her pause.

“I thought, oh my gosh, I’m so young, and I don’t have kids yet and what if, what if, what if,” she said. “But I thought, you know, all of our men and women are there putting themselves at risk. I’m going with Bob Hope for a Christmas show. I could do this, and so I went. I brought my mom, and some of my memories are flying in those military helicopters from a base to an aircraft carrier. Those helicopters have no doors, and the wind is blowing in. And you’re flying over the Middle East out to the Persian Gulf. It was mind-boggling.”

She remembers they performed a large show at a secret base in the desert. There were 10,000 men and women in uniform in the audience, and that’s where Haje performed a song-and-dance number with Hope.

“We did a little comedy routine, and then we sang a Broadway song,” she said. “And to just feel the energy the men and women cheering out there was phenomenal. I mean, it was the only time I’ve ever performed for that loving, giving, strong of an audience, and we also sang Christmas songs. The Pointer Sisters were there. Marie Osmond was there. Ann Jillian was there, and then we had Aaron Tippin with us. He was singing at the time … the ‘Proud to be an American’ song, which, of course, is a big patriotic hit. So it was filled with sentiment, with love, with appreciation. That show was sort of the biggest and the most amazing.”

After that performance in the desert, the team headed for a Navy ship and then to an aircraft carrier for more intimate shows. The experience was unforgettable for Haje.

“You have to remember I’m 20 years old, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said. “And to literally be helicoptered to the presence of our military force, and then just the hearts and souls of our military service men and women, is an overwhelming experience in the best way possible.”

At the time of the interview, Haje hadn’t watched the new DVD collection from Time Life, but she was sure that viewing them would bring back even more memories. The entire trip stands as a lifetime highlight for Haje.

“I feel very blessed to have done a lot of amazing things that I never dreamed would really happen,” she said. “But whenever anyone asks me, what’s the favorite thing you’ve done, it’s getting the opportunity to go with Bob Hope to the Middle East and have those rehearsals with him, have those performances with him, meet the men and women that we did. This was before everyone had a laptop. Internet was new and really only business-centric. People weren’t Skyping. There was no Facetime. People didn’t have cellphones like they do now, so I would also volunteer to serve food at lunch or go to one of the mess halls for dinner. So I really wanted to be involved with the men and women, and everyone I met gave me the phone number of their mom, their dad, their brother, their wife. They wanted me to call when I got home and give each person an update. I had an extensive journal with all of these men and women’s names and who they wanted me to contact when I got back to the States. So it was a deeply personal trip as well.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

Bob Hope Salutes the Troops is now available on DVD from Time Life. Click here for more information.