The most "shot after" girl in the South Pacific
by Di Freeze

October 2001

You can see the bright lights of Hollywood, including the Hollywood sign, from a spacious window in Marge Bong Drucker�s living room atop Laurel Canyon. In fact, to alleviate the doldrums of those necessary daily routines, such as brushing one�s teeth, you have the same view of her �jewelry tray� from her second-floor master bathroom.

This is where Bong Drucker has lived for the last 40 years, since Murray Drucker presented the house to her as a surprise birthday present. Errol Flynn once lived down the street, as did singer/songwriter Carole King, who often tutored Bong Drucker�s daughter, Karen �Tay� Drucker, now an inspirational singer/songwriter married to John Hoy who just released her second CD, in the art of piano playing.

These days, actor George Clooney lives a hop, skip, and winding road away from the house where a spare room tells her history. In it are newspaper clippings and photos of her life with Ace of Aces Dick Bong, years spent in the fashion industry, and later, with Drucker.

In her living room are photographs she has taken and paintings she has created. There are also airplane models scattered around that have been given to her over the years, including several �Marge� aircraft, complete with her graduation picture Bong used to decorate a Lockheed P-38 �Lightning,� shortly before he wrote and told her what he had done and declared she was �the most shot-after girl in the South Pacific.� Later, he flew other �Marge� aircraft.

These days, Bong Drucker lives alone, although for years, her house was filled with the sound of the voices of her two daughters and that of the man who presented her with the house. Drucker died, after a long bout with cancer, on July 31, 1991.

This was the second time Bong Drucker experienced the loss of a well-beloved husband. The first time was in August 1945, when, mere months after marrying him, Bong met his death in a Lockheed P-80 �Shooting Star.�

The years following Bong�s death were difficult ones for his young widow, only 21 when he died.

In the days, months, and years after he died, she shunned publicity, keeping a low profile, so she could �get on with her life.�

Although she gave very few interviews, normally, if a reporter got a hold of her number, she simply declined.

The Bong story had everything Hollywood usually looks for. It was patriotic, romantic, and tragic. Because of this, Bong family members and Bong�s widow fielded questions from movie studios but she, and Bong�s family, were hesitant. Hollywood doesn�t always tell the exact story, and she was afraid his life would be �glamorized.�

�The main thrust of anything like this is to show exactly the kind of person someone was,� she says. �Richard was not unlike all of the other fellows who volunteered, didn�t wait to be drafted, and went to war. Some even tried to sneak in when they were 16-years-old. That�s sheer patriotism. That to me, sums up that era.�

A deal was never completed to make the story into a movie, and Bong Drucker now admits she would love to see Bong�s story, complete with the many lives his intermingled with, on film�if portrayed accurately.

�There was a video made by Discovery Wisconsin Productions,� she says and adds that his combat films are in the national archives.

Immediately after Bong�s husband�s death, she found herself in financial difficulties, while waiting for the $52.10 per month that would eventually come through insurance.

Help came from Hollywood columnist, Hedda Hopper, who gave her $500 to tide her over.

In possession of her teaching certificate in art and English, initially, she interviewed with the Los Angeles Board of Education, but was told that the �kids in Hollywood would eat her alive.�

She says the only time she ever used the name of Bong to her advantage was at that time, when she needed a job.

�Dorothy Preble, who operated the biggest modeling agency at that time in Hollywood, called me and wanted me to come to her office,� she said. �We talked back and forth and I told her I knew she had called me because she saw my name in the newspaper. I told her whatever she was offering me had to be on my merits. I didn�t have much to offer as far as modeling�just a few jobs I did in college.�

Preble offered the young widow a six-week course at Dorothy Preble�s Model Agency and School.

�I found I had a flare for it,� she said. �I think I had the knack from my teaching experience in college. And I watched the instructor very carefully to see how she dealt with each of us. The classes were small. When my instructor left her position to start her own modeling school, Mrs. Preble asked me if I wanted to take up the classes. I started it and I loved it.�

Her job was to teach �young women how to look, act and walk like a model.�

Assuming the professional name of Kris Dahl, she did this for nearly 10 years.

At the same time, she did ramp work, shows for French couturiers and New York milliners, and some print work and counseling for models with problems facing audiences�an ironic task, since she admits she lacked self-confidence and was shy.

�I was always self-conscious in front of the camera,� she says.

She tells of a 62-year-old she taught how to �walk up and down stairs without holding on to anything.�

�She was nominated for grandmother of the year or something and she won,� she said. �She was later on the �Groucho Marx Show,� etc. She eventually started her own cosmetics business.�

While helping others, she soon started gaining self-confidence, and eventually started her own private classes.

�The process was slow and painful,� she says of her search to find out who she was and what she wanted in life. �I was unsophisticated, naive and made mistakes. I was very lonely and unsure of myself.�

She says there is no point in ignoring the fact that her lack of self-confidence led her, years after Bong died, into a brief marriage she doesn�t prefer to talk about. However, she gladly talks about the daughter, Christina�who goes by Tina�the union produced. The daughter she proudly says taught special education at a private school and served as an aid and manager, before developing her own school, with a partner. The school, in Cypress, Calif., now has a staff of 25 people and 75 students.

This year, Bong Drucker announced her retirement. She recently finalized the sale of the �Boxer Review,� a now 128-page magazine she has published for years that has an international subscription base and which has won national awards as best single breed publication.

Prior to the sale, The American Boxer Club, the breed�s parent club, honored her for her efforts on behalf of the Boxer fancy over the years.

She became involved in the industry through Drucker.

While still involved in fashion, she met Drucker when he arrived at the modeling school to ask if someone there would be interested in writing a column covering the fashion industry for a magazine he published. �California Girl� featured fashion pictures and articles, as well as covering restaurants, etc.

�He asked if I wanted to do it,� she said. �I didn�t see why not.� Drucker arrived regularly to pick up copy, and soon a romance bloomed.

�He was a very dynamic person,� she said, �although a little overpowering. He was a real entrepreneur. He had big dreams of what he wanted to do.�

Eventually, the original 16-page magazine turned out to be one of the leading fashion magazines in Southern California.

Drucker had been in the Coast Guard. While in Scotland during the war, he discovered a collie, �Barrie,� who later accompanied him home to New York and eventually to Hollywood, where Drucker became a screenwriter for the English market, and later was involved in radio, writing for popular shows of the day. Eventually Drucker began publishing the �Collie Review,� �California Girl� and other trade magazines, under Drucker Publications.

Soon, the couple was traveling around the world, photographing California fashion for �California Girl.� She also became involved in his other publications, which included two other dog reviews. For �California Girl,� she was the fashion coordinator.

�I was the one that saw to it that no wrinkles showed on the pencil-slim skirts of that day and the one sticking the hair spray bottle in the back of a model�s belt to cinch in the waist,� she says.

The two were later married, and Drucker adopted Tina. Then, Karen was born. Both daughters traveled with them to Japan, Brazil, Mexico, Greece, Paris, etc.

Bong Drucker credits Drucker for encouraging her to �uncover and develop her potential.�

A few years after they were married the self-professed workaholic told her husband, a fellow workaholic, she needed to �do something.�

�He said I should publish a dog magazine,� she said. �I didn�t know anything about dogs, but we picked out a breed, and I started the �Boxer Review,� in 1956, and started going to dog shows. I would pick up catalogs; when I had enough names together from exhibitors, I sent out a flier about the new publication.�

Bong Drucker had found a new niche. Not only did she write for the magazine, but she also did her own typesetting, etc. She says she was still shy�but not for long. George Berner, the owner of �Dog World Magazine,� was a lay hypnotist.

After two sessions of hypnosis with him, she says he instilled in her the belief in what she was selling and in her ability to provide the market.

�After those sessions, I was hoarse because I couldn�t stop talking,� she says with a laugh. �Anyone who knows me today has to assume I must be still under hypnotic influence.�

When she wasn�t working with the magazines, Bong Drucker, who has always had an office in her home, passed out Oreos and glasses of milk to her daughters, who were enrolled in swimming classes when each reached the age of six.

Drucker had been a nationally ranked swimmer in his college days and both agreed the children needed �disciplines to help shape their lives.� Summer weekends were spent at meets.

Both medalled consistently, but only Tay continued to swim competitively. She joined a master�s swim team when she was 25, and, in 1988, was one of six women in the San Francisco Dolphin Club who swam the English Channel in 10 hours and 54 minutes, setting an international relay record.

In 1978, Bong Drucker, who has featured Boxers around the world, was listed in the 1978 edition of �Who�s Who in American Women� for her various career accomplishments under the name of Kris Dahl.

It wasn�t until 1985 that she broke her long silence regarding her earlier life with Bong.

That year, Joyce Bong Erickson, Bong�s sister, invited her to attend the dedication of the $70 million Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge that now connects Duluth, Minn., and Superior, Wis.

�Up until that time, few were aware of my connections with Richard,� she says. �For many reasons, that was a part of my history I shared with only a very few, either socially or in my business.�

Figuring she had stayed �in the closet long enough,� she attended the weekend-long dedication.

In 1989, the Bong P-38 Fund, Inc., was founded, to replace an earlier foundation, with the goal of founding the Richard I. Bong WWII Heritage Center, which should break ground this fall in Superior.

In 1992, she visited Superior, where she often stays with Joyce and her husband Reynold, who live in the Bong family home. She often sees other members of the Bong family.

�People always say that if you�ve seen one Bong you�ve seen them all,� she says. �Joyce and Reynold�s four sons all sound and look like Richard. They even laugh like him. The similarity is there�mainly in the eyes.�

The Bong family was proud when Bong�s nephew, Capt. James Bong, joined the Air Force. The son of Jim and Nancy Bong, he is presently an Air Force F-15 pilot. Second Lt. Bong graduated first in his class with his famous uncle�s wings pinned on his breast pocket.

She remembers coming to the conclusion on that visit that �we were a bunch of amateurs trying to raise $2 million for the project.�

Tay had shared with her a goal program devised by Zig Zigler and they began to outline their goals. Soon, they secured a professional fund-raising group to take over the task.

Presently, Christabel Grant is executive director of the fund. Bong Erickson has served as both president and chairperson. Reynold Erickson and Bong Erickson maintain the present Memorial Room in Poplar, Mich. Bong Drucker serves as vice-chair.

Through Grant, the fund received a million dollar endowment through Wisconsin�s former governor, Tommy Thompson.

�She has been a wonderful guiding force with this whole thing,� says Bong Drucker.

Over the years, Bong Drucker has donated memorabilia to different organizations, including donations to the U.S. Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio. She is currently in the midst of the monumental task of organizing her many articles and pictures related to Bong for donation to the center.

To raise money for the project, for several years, she took booth space at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, where she sold autographed pictures and copies of her book, �Memories, the story of Dick and Marge Bong,� which was published in 1995.

She has spoken at several events, where she gives a slide presentation, and says she enjoys her travels, and the opportunity to meet veterans of different wars�many who knew Bong.

Although she enjoys talking to veterans, she says they often find it hard to discuss the experiences they have encountered.

�Those things are pretty hard to discuss,� she says. �Even to this day, there are many who do not want to talk about their experiences. I�ve met quite a few.�

She tells of one man who stood a distance from their booth at Oshkosh.

�He made no attempt to approach any of us,� she said. �He had this far-away look in his eye. I went over and asked if he was a pilot. He said he had been part of a crew. I told him Richard always gave credit to the men operating and fixing the aircraft, and that he always said if it hadn�t have been for them, he and the other pilots wouldn�t have been in the air. He started crying.�

At another time, a veteran approached Bong Drucker with a problem.

�He wanted to share his thoughts with his daughter and he just couldn�t,� says Bong Drucker. �I told him to write them down because he needed to talk about it. Maybe a year later he wrote back and thanked me, saying it had been so good to be able to write it down and give it to her.�

She says that veterans should be telling their stories, and adds that Bong was just as quiet when it came to talking about his life as a fighter pilot, most often qualifying his victories as �luck.�

�There are so many unsung heroes from that war and others,� she says. �They have so many fascinating stories.�

Bong Drucker has also attended many reunions, peopled by veterans and/or their loved ones.

�I love going to those reunions,� she says. �We all have something in common. I guess I look at the men and women that are still together and there�s a little sadness there. I come back to my hotel room and I�m alone. For the most part it doesn�t bother me but sometimes it crosses my mind.�

Bong Drucker speaks of first love and how special it is, but adds there isn�t a day that goes by that she doesn�t think about Bong or Drucker.

However, her daughters, who visit often, and a myriad of friends, see to it that she doesn�t have too much time to spend thinking of her magnificent past.

But her past can�t help but enter into her present.

Visitors from out of town can expect to take a trip down the mountain and across Los Angeles to the Proud Bird Restaurant, near Los Angeles International Airport. When they get there, they will find several miniature aircraft decorating the restaurant grounds. There, on a miniature P-38 Lightning, they will discover a lasting tribute�the smiling face of the �most shot after girl in the South Pacific.�

To make donations for the Richard I. Bong WWII Heritage Center, please e-mail Christabel Grant at [email protected]. For more information regarding the center, please visit the Website at www.cpinternet.com/~bong/.