CREW'S STORIES
RETURN TO:
Henry Fonda
Visit aboard Bennington
Early 1967
Subject:
Visit aboard Bennington
Date:
Sun, 7 May 2000 13:48:11 -0400
From:
"RG&BT" farnswth@crosslink.net
To:
jkpires@uss-bennington.org
JKPires.
Recently discovered your excellent website for Bennington. A job well researched and very well presented. As a matter of interest, there was a single visit made to USS Bennington by a then well-known stage and screen actor, Henry Fonda, in early 1967. Mr. Fonda, apparently in rebuttal to the disgraceful and seemingly treasonous actions by his daughter, Jane, in Hanoi, made an unaccompanied visit to Bennington for several days as the ship steamed on Yankee Station. His stated purpose was simply to fraternize with the crew which he did by eating in the crew's mess and voicing his support for the hard but important work in which they were all engaged.
Mr. Fonda who achieved great fame for his leading role in the play and later movie, "Mr. Roberts," played the part of a naval officer who suffered much under a fictional tyrannical commanding officer whose hallmark was a potted palm tree carefully tended on the bridge of the ship. When Mr. Fonda arrived on Bennington, his helicopter was met on the flight deck by the Executive Officer who escorted Mr. Fonda to the bridge to pay his respects. In a carefully staged moment the door to the bridge was opened where Mr. Fonda was greeted with the sight of the Captain carefully watering a potted palm (artificial) next to the captain's chair. In all of his roles in movies and theatre, Mr. Fonda never laughed as heartily as he did at that moment.
Richard Graffy, Capt, USN (Ret.)
RETURN TO:
