THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 22, 1994 TAG: 9410220294
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: FORT BRAGG LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
Martha Raye's exemplary service to the Army - including trips to Vietnam to entertain the Green Berets - earned her a funeral here with full military honors.
The Special Forces soldiers called her ``Col. Maggie.'' She said the Green Berets were like her sons, and some even called her ``Mom.'' Today, she is expected to get her wish to be buried alongside them.
Raye, who died Wednesday in Los Angeles at age 78, requested several years ago to be buried at Fort Bragg, the home of the Green Berets. The Special Forces Association asked military brass to grant her wish, and they did.
``How many entertainers in this world would go to a country called Vietnam, where a war was going on, for nine straight years, four months a year, and spend three of those months out with isolated Special Forces detachments in camps all over the country?'' said Jimmy Dean, executive secretary of the Special Forces Association in Fayetteville.
This morning, former Special Forces soldiers from across the country are expected to attend the funeral at the Fort Bragg cemetery. The service will be led by a priest, a rabbi and a minister.
A wake was set for Friday evening in Fayetteville, and a public viewing was held Thursday night in Santa Monica, Calif.
Normally, only active duty and retired Army personnel are buried on post. But the Department of Defense granted an exception for Raye, said Gene Sexton, a Fort Bragg spokesman.
After all, Raye was so beloved by members of the Army Special Forces that President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966 made her an honorary lieutenant colonel in the Special Forces. Raye already was a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve Nurse Corps.
Raye had entertained troops during World War II and the Korean War as well, but she developed her close relationship with the Special Forces during the Vietnam War.
Tom Squire, a retired Green Beret from Fayetteville, remembers seeing Raye perform in Vietnam just after she was wounded while visiting troops.
``She had a flesh wound and it was bandaged, but she stayed there with the Special Forces soldiers to entertain them,'' Squire said. ``Other entertainers went to the big air bases and Navy bases, but they wouldn't go up the rivers and out into the jungle, where she went.''
Raye was criticized by some Vietnam War opponents who regarded her as too much of a hawk. But the troops couldn't get enough of her bawdy songs and jokes.
``She would put on a camouflage uniform and get muddy and drink out of the bottle just like everybody else,'' said Squire, who became friends with Raye after meeting her in Vietnam.
Raye's career suffered because of her support for the Special Forces and their efforts in Vietnam. She said in 1988 that she couldn't find a job for three years after she returned.
``But I'd do it again,'' she said. ``Being with the Green Berets was the best part of my life.''
Raye received a special Academy Award in 1969 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom last November for her support of the Army. by CNB