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Welcome to #FridayFeeling #WomenOfMilitaryHistory with @KaraDixonVuic talking about how the "homefront" operates in support of morale for troops in war.
Today's scholar, @KaraDixonVuic, is the LCpl. Benjamin W. Schmidt Professor of War, Conflict, and Society in 20th-Century America @TCU. She earned her PhD and MA in History from @IUBHistory and a BA in History and English from @MarshallU
In February 1954, @MarilynMonroe unleashed a small firestorm when she sashayed onto a stage in Korea. Braving freezing temperatures, she warmed the audience with a low-cut, form-fitting purple dress and her trademark sultry lyrics to “come and get it.”...
...In her four-day USO tour, 100,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines clambered over each other, climbed telephone poles, and peered through telescopes to catch a better glimpse of the blonde bombshell....
At one location, the crowd rushed the stage so violently that one GI was trampled and had to be evacuated by ambulance. At another performance, soldiers almost broke through a line of MPs trying to protect Monroe.
Military personnel stationed in Korea in 1954 were desperate for entertainment, but, it was more than simple boredom that led to such raucous behavior. The men “stampeded” to see the nation’s leading sex symbol.
