Jenny Lake (Catherine Bell) mentions that she eventually married the bass player in the band. The bass player was played by Adam Beason, Catherine's then real-life husband.
The weather in the Gulf of Tonkin on Christmas Eve 1969 was pretty bad. Bob almost didn't make it out to the Ranger. When he did, he arrived by helo escorted by gun ships. Due to the bad weather, the show was held on the forward hangar deck. Just try and imagine somewhere around 2500-3000 sailors crowded into an area about 120'x400'. That's what we did. None of us minded a bit. Just having Bob and his troup was great.
When "Hammer" takes off in the A-6, the bow shot is of an A-6 launching from USS Ranger (CVA-61). This was the actual ship that Bob Hope was on on Christmas Eve of '69.
Perhaps equalling Bob Hope in 1969 was Neil Armstrong. Only 5 months after being the first man to walk on the moon, Armstrong made the 1969 Christmas tour with Bob.
Larry Manetti, Jeff Mackay and WK Stratton all played Marine fighter pilots in another Don Bellisario show over 20 years earlier, Black Sheep Squadron.