While most people knew of her as a multi-talented entertainer whose career spanned from the 1920s to the 1990s, she is the only USO entertainer buried in the US Army Special Forces cemetery at Fort Bragg’s main post in North Carolina. She began as a child actor in the 1920s, then was a vocalist for several jazz bands in the 1930s, a voice actor on radio, and a comic actress on stage and screen She entertained American troops in World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam.
As appreciation for her three decades of USO work, she was named an honorary colonel In the U.S. Marines, and an honorary lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army. In 1993, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Sources:
Jeff Doc Dentice. “Tribute To Martha ‘Maggie’ Raye: From “Doc” Dentice – Vietnam Medic.” War-Veterans.Org (website). Accessed 26 December 2021.
“Martha Raye.” Wikipedia (website). Accessed 26 December 2021.