Bob Hope and his USO troupe arrived in Sicily three days after the Seventh Army, led by General George S. Patton (1885–1945), took the key town of Messina. Patton asked Hope to tell his radio audience “that I love my men.” Hope learned afterwards that Patton had public relations concerns because he had slapped and verbally abused two legitimately hospitalized soldiers whom he accused of cowardice. Patton’s diary describes his desire to seem “amusing and human” during Hope’s visit.