"A KISS FOR YOUR MOTHER"
A Tribute to Claudette Colbert
1902-1996
1942 has not been a good year for America's war against the Japanese. I had been part of the Second Marine Brigade which left San Diego, California on January 6, 1942 and arrived at Pago Pago, Samoa twenty-one days later. Pago Pago, pronounced Pango Pango, had been shelled just prior to our arrival and we were to reinforce the 14th Marine Artillery Battalion.
Living in the jungle, working from daylight until dark, spending four hours in a "listening post" at some point during the night, existing on limited rations...began to take its toll. I was among those who came down with some unknown malady that refused to respond to all the usual treatments. My weight was down to ninety-eight pounds when I was returned to the states on a U S Navy tanker that had stopped at Pago Pago on a voyage from Australia to California.
A new Navy Hospital had opened at the former Lake Norconian Country Club located at Corona, California and I became one of the first patients. The Country Club staff had been retained and the hospital was everything that an enlisted man could never expect. Breakfast eggs were prepared on order and served under gleaming silver covers. There were white cloth napkins embossed with the County Club logo. There was a lake for fishing...a billiards room...a golf course..and two Olympic size swimming pools. I was surrounded by luxury, but restricted to my hospital bed which was located in
a former ball room.
Kay Francis, an aging movie star, was responsible for "patient morale" and came faithfully every Thursday afternoon with whatever movie stars she could round up. I could hear the noise rising down the hall on my first Thursday afternoon. I was excited with the prospects of seeing a "real live Movie Star."
And...there she was! I would have recognized her anywhere. She....was Claudette Colbert, one of my favorite stars. She was soon talking to the sailor in the first bed, a Filipino boy who had lost a leg at Pearl Harbor. My heart raced and I prayed that she would stop at my bed for just a moment.
Presently, Claudette Colbert...was...standing at my bed and reached down to hold my hand. She was more beautiful in person than she had been in her movies I had seen back home in Hubbard, Texas. And yet....her voice was like that of an old friend. She wanted to know where I had been, where I was from, about my family, and how old I was. She commented that she knew my Mother would want to be with me and with that...Claudette Colbert reached over and kissed my forehead, saying, "That's a kiss for your Mother."
And with that, she moved to the next bed. She visited every bed in the ballroom and my eyes followed her every move until she stood in the doorway and blew a farewell kiss to all the Marines and Sailors.
Claudette Colbert was always "Special" after that day. Her movies had a special meaning and I followed her career faithfully. Reviews of her Broadway plays were read with excitement and I was saddened when she retired to her beloved Barbados home. She died there July 30, 1996. She was ninety-two, born two years after my Mother. I miss her.