 Home | Recent News | Aberdeen Village | Uso Dance Brings Back Fond Memories 30 Apr 2008 USO dance brings back fond memories |  | The dance featured the big band sounds of the Don Accurso Orchestra. | |
By Nancy D. Borst Ila Tallmadge was a young school teacher in Michigan in 1942 when she was asked to volunteer as a United Service Organization (USO) hostess. The government was establishing USO clubs to boost morale among U.S. soldiers fighting in World War II. Part of a hostess’s job was to serve as a dance partner and Tallmadge loved to dance, so she volunteered. She remembers her first USO event at Fort Custer. “The fellows were almost five deep on both sides of the dance hall. I said, ‘Oh my, what have I gotten myself into?’” said Tallmadge, who now lives at Aberdeen Village, a not-for-profit active living and wellness community in Olathe, Kans. She discovered that first night that she was more than just a dance partner. As she walked past the men, someone reached for her shoulder. “I heard a voice say, ‘Don’t let her get away.’ From back in the mass of khaki was a familiar face – somebody I’d known in college,” she recalled. “He had been a soda jerk at the student union. He said, ‘You are the first familiar face I’ve seen in the two weeks I’ve been here.’” USO clubs were - and still are - a bridge to civilian life, a place for soldiers to get away from military duties for a while. In tribute to the USO and its rich history, Aberdeen Village invited the public to a 1940s USO-style dance April 30. The dance was be held from 5 to 7 p.m. at 17500 W. 119th St. Live dance music was provided by the Don Accurso Orchestra. Veterans were encouraged to wear their uniforms or caps. Light appetizers and beverages were be served. “We created the event as a celebration of our veterans and also as a community event,” said marketing coordinator Mandy Sheldon. “We also asked our residents to bring their wartime photos so we can have them as conversation starters.” Tallmadge will never forget her USO days. “We danced from about 7 to 10,” she said of a typical evening. “There was always a live band. I probably danced with 25 or more during the evening. The girls didn’t have much of a chance to sit but that was okay. I thoroughly enjoyed doing it. “The fellows talked a lot while we were dancing. You either represented the girl back home or their sisters.” Hostesses often befriended the men and even kept track of them after they shipped out. “We all had a map on our walls, keeping track of where fellows were we knew, moving our pins,” said Tallmadge. “You wondered what happened to them.” “It was a different period. Everybody was in it together,” she said of the war. “The USO filled a gap in my life as well.” Based on the attendance for this first hosting of a USO-style dance, it is a time that is fondly remembered by veterans and those who participated as hostesses with the USO.
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