We ran across this 1970s-era Japanese celebrity magazine Movie Information featuring Chris Noel on the cover and absolutely had to share it. She was a notable figure during the Vietnam War due to her “A Date with Chris” radio program, which she broadcast twice weekly to American troops. The show was immensely popular. In fact she was thought by the Viet Cong to be such a morale boost that they reportedly placed a $10,000 bounty on her head. They never managed to kill her, but helicopters in which she rode often took ground fire, and two crash-landed with her aboard. Her efforts to make personal contact with U.S.
troops were remarkable when you consider she had already established herself in b-movies and on television and may have been on the verge of becoming a star. Yet she put Hollywood on hold and instead became a radio broadcaster in a war zone. After Vietnam she tried to return to movies but the reception in Tinseltown was icy for a minor actress who was perceived to have supported a U.S. war of aggression. Eventually she gave up and opened a shelter for homeless veterans, which she still runs today. All in all it’s a remarkable—perhaps even movie-worthy—story.
where American vets comment with amazement upon the Vietnamese ability to put the war behind them despite the ghastly suffering they endured. But whatever history’s take on that divisive period, personalities like Chris Noel are worth admiring. During a time when politicians, pundits, and protestors fought a war of their own over the direction of the United States, Chris Noel rejected the glitz and glamour of Hollywood in order to serve the grunts who were sacrificing their lives on the firing line. 
