During Bob Hope’s overseas tours, commands bestowed gifts on the entertainer, all of which he kept in a warehouse on the grounds of his California home as reminders of times with America’s fighting forces. One of the exhibit cases in the museum’s exhibit includes a flight jacket presented during a Christmas show on board the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CV 67) in the Mediterranean Sea off Lebanon, in December 1983 and helmets presented by aviation commands.

A rare color photograph taken somewhere in the Pacific captures the essence of a Bob Hope USO show of the era. Servicemen crowd around a rustic, makeshift stage to get a look at a Hollywood starlet Frances Langford, who shares the stage with Hope as he cracks jokes. During July–September 1944 alone, Hope logged 30,000 miles and gave more than 150 performances, evidence of his tremendous impact on the war effort.

Expressions of thanks from American servicemen took a variety of forms, one of the most unusual items received by Bob Hope a coconut. It was mailed to Hollywood, California, from the South Pacific by a Seabee, who had witnessed one of his performances, indeed a fitting reminder of a visit to a remote island.

Servicemen frequently created so-called trench art using scraps of military hardware or inert ordnance and ammunition. This example, a cup made using a part of a shell casing, is inscribed “Bob Hope Treasury Islands August 1944” and was sent to the entertainer to commemorate a show at that location.