Letters From Long Ago Now Lift Spirits of WWII's 'Canteen Girl'

[steve2470]

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/letters-long-ago-now-lift-spirits-wwii-s-canteen-girl-n589136

Seventy-five years after "Canteen Girl" sang her last song and shared her final inspirational story with American soldiers and sailors during World War II, their letters still speak to her.

Phyllis Jeanne Creore Westerman, who turned 100 last month, was the host of the popular "Canteen Girl" radio program that aired for several years on NBC radio beginning in August 1942. The show was essentially a home-cooked counter-punch to the infamous "Tokyo Rose" broadcasts airing Japanese propaganda and anti-American rhetoric during the war.

"Canteen Girl," had a simple format — three or four songs wrapped around a story intended to lift the spirits of Americans fighting in Europe and the Pacific. But simplicity and Westerman's sweet singing voice and measured storytelling turned out to be just what the young servicemen were craving.

"I got a great deal of fan mail," Westerman recalled from a worn upholstered chair in the living room of the Upper East Side apartment where she has lived for more than 60 years. "The boys would all write together in their letters and ask me to sing certain songs for them."

[Cooley Hurd]

1. She was also Miss Television at the 1939 World's Fair:

http://www.amny.com/news/world-s-fair-miss-television-now-98-recalls-introducing-americans-to-tv-1.8007614

One of the most popular exhibits at the New York World’s Fair in 1939 — seventy-five years ago — introduced Americans to the marvel of broadcast TV at the RCA Pavilion.

There, young hosts known as “Miss Television” interviewed visitors on camera.

Phyllis Jeanne Creore, then in her 20s, beat out dozens of other applicants to get the novel job before anyone else.
“I was the first ‘Miss Television,'” said Creore, who is now 98 and lives in an apartment on East 96th Street where she gets around with the help of a walker. The TV exhibit proved so popular that three other women were hired on. “I couldn’t work at nine in the morning at the fair until midnight,” she said.

[steve2470]

2. yes, I always love these articles, I learn so much and it's nice to honor that generation! nt

[pinboy3niner]

3. In Vietnam we had Armed Forces Radio DJ Chris Noel

To tell the truth, I never heard of her when I was in Vietnam, though she was popular with many of the troops.

When my medic found me 20 years after the war, he mentioned Chris Noel. So when I met her at a Vietnam vet reunion, I bought a T-shirt, had her do a special autograph on it, and sent it to my medic. He loved it!

More about her at IMDb:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0633867/bio