page_title: United Service Organizations
section_title: Lebanese peacekeeping
hierarchical_section_title: United Service Organizations / History / Lebanese peacekeeping
caption_attribution_description: Entertainer Bob Hope performs for crewmen aboard the battleship USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) with help from, left to right: Miss USA Julie Hayek, Cathy Lee Crosby, Ann Jillian and Brooke Shields, during a Christmas Eve USO show. The NEW JERSEY is operating off the coast of Beirut, Lebanon.
context_page_description: The United Service Organizations Inc. is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed Forces and their families. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of War, and later with the Department of Defense, relying heavily on private contributions and on funds, goods, and services from various corporate and individual donors. Although it is congressionally-chartered, it is not a government agency.
  Founded during World War II, the USO sought to be the GI's "home away from home" and began a tradition of entertaining the troops that continues today. Involvement in the USO was one of the many ways in which the nation had come together to support the war effort, with nearly 1.5 million people having volunteered their services in some way. The USO initially disbanded in 1947, but was revived in 1950 for the Korean War, after which it continued, also providing peacetime services. During the Vietnam War, USO social facilities were sometimes located in combat zones.
context_section_description: In 1983, a bloody civil war was raging in Lebanon. In an effort to stop the violence in the region a Multinational Force of peacekeepers composed largely of U.S., Italian and French armed service members was created and sent to the region to attempt a restoration of order. As part of the multinational force the United States mobilized an expeditionary force composed of members of the United States Marine Corps and elements of the United States Sixth Fleet which operated out of the Mediterranean Sea.
  Carrying on a tradition he had begun in World War II of spending Christmas with U.S. forces overseas, Bob Hope and his troupe of entertainers gave a show on board the battleship USS New Jersey on December 24, 1983. Four hundred Marines stationed in Beirut attended the show.
caption: Entertainers during a Christmas Eve USO show in 1983 on board the USS New Jersey  off the coast of Beirut, Lebanon. (left to right) Miss USA Julie Hayek, Cathy Lee Crosby, Bob Hope, Ann Jillian and Brooke Shields.
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