From: Dick Ellis
Date: July 19, 2018
Subject: Good Morning Vietnam
Airman who inspired "Good Morning, Vietnam" film has died
FILE - In this October 1987, file photo, Adrian Cronauer, a disc jockey on the Saigon-based Dawn Buster radio show from 1965-1966 whose experiences in the Vietnam War were chronicled in the movie "Good Morning, Vietnam," poses outside his home in Philadelphia, Pa. Cronauer died Wednesday, July 18, 2018 . He was 79. Cronauer opened his Armed Forces Radio show with “Goooooood morning, Vietnam!” Photo: Charles Krupa, AP / AP1987
From: Bill Altman
Date: July 19, 2018
Subject: Fwd: In Memory of Adrian Joseph Cronauer -- Oakey's Funeral Service & Crematory, Roanoke, VA
Really sorry to read this but I appreciate Ann's alert. I worked with Ade in 1965, Seems like only yesterday.
Bill Altman
From: Bob Morecook
Date: July 20, 2018
Subject: Adrian Cronauer, AFRS/AFVN Dejay dead at 79
Hi Nancy I agree with you both. I re-watched the movie recently and it was both depressing and funny. I tried to call Adrian about 3 weeks ago but no answer. Now, I suspect he was in hospital. His wife died about two years ago. Sometimes people do not survive the death of a spouse.
Hugs,
Bob
From: Bob Morecook
Date: July 19, 2018
Subject: Adrian Cronauer, AFRS/AFVN Dejay dead at 79
This is really sad news. I had the pleasure of having lunch with him and Bruce Wahl back in about 1995. He was a really good guy. RIP
From: Jim White
Date: August 2, 2018
Subject: Adrian Cronauer - Obituary in "The Economist"
"The Economist" contacted me as AFVNVETS.NET Webmaster (as above) and I assured them that it was not a problem to use one of Adrian's pictures from our website. If you want to see the obituary on the on-line edition of "The Economist," please
click here. If you do, note the "afvnvets.net" credit in the picture at the bottom right. We may all get our 15 minutes of fame yet!
Jim White
Obituaries and Condolences
Adrian J. Cronauer SSgt, USAF DJ Saigon 1962-66
Adrian passed away on July 18, 2018. The following are some of the obituaries and messages received by AFVN Yahoo Group.
From: Nancy Smoyer
Date: July 20, 2018
Subject: Adrian Cronauer, AFRS/AFVN Dejay dead at 79
I too, met Adrian at an AFVN meet-up in DC long ago. Here's what I wrote about my favorite part of the movie for my book--
I went to see Good Morning, Vietnam with a DD friend and a civilian friend of hers. During the scene where the actor playing Adrian Cronauer was caught in a traffic jam and started kidding with the guys in a nearby truck--where are you from, how long you been in Vietnam, etc.-- the whole atmosphere changed from growing frustration to one of lightness and laughter. I whispered to my friend, "He was a Donut Dollie, too."
Then when we came out of the movie, after the ending in which Louis Armstrong sang “What a wonderful world” to scenes of destruction in Vietnam, I said to her, "I feel like bawling." She responded something like, “That was so depressing.” The civilian woman said, "What? I thought it was funny!"
Nancy
Adrian J. Cronauer - Life Legacy
Posted on Memorialsolutions.com by Oakey's Funeral Service & Crematory, Roanoke, Virginia.
Received from Ann Kelsey on July 19, 2018
RIP, Adrian. Grand Marshal of our Veterans Day parade in Augusta, GA
with another AFVN'er--Bob Young-- who was serving as mayor.
From: Alastair MacKenzie
Date: July 19, 2018
Subject: Adrian Cronauer, AFRS/AFVN Dejay dead at 79
Thank you for the info. Thank you, Adrian, you cheered us up with your "Gooood morning, Vietnam". RIP. Alastair MacKenzie
3 Pl, V5 Company, 2 RAR (NZ) ANZAC '70-'71.
From: Ken Kalish
Date: July 19, 2018
Subject: Fwd: In Memory of Adrian Joseph Cronauer -- Oakey's Funeral Service & Crematory, Roanoke, VA
Me too. Quite a shock to learn he has jumped aboard that long, black train.
From: Rick Fredericksen
Date: August 2, 2018
Subject: Adrian Cronauer - Obituary in "The Economist"
Even after Adrian is gone, he still provides recognition to AFVN. Thanks Jim.
Rick Fredericksen
From: Rick Fredericksen
Date: July 21, 2018
Subject: Personal Cronauer Memories
Adrian Cronauer: A Military Broadcaster's Tribute
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Project Jenny KLIK - 1st Inf Di v Women in Vietnam RELATED-- To AFVN To Saigon To Vietnam Further Afield Index
From: Harry Ettmueller
Date: July 19, 2018
Subject: Adrian Cronauer, AFRS/AFVN Dejay dead at 79
I missed him by about a month when first posted to VN as field advisor to ARVN Sig Corps TDY from AFKN. Harry L. Ettmueller
Det 5 Hue TV
Obituaries
Obituary from the Roanoke Times, Roanoke, Virginia
Adrian was living in Troutville, Virginia near Roanoke at the time of his death.
Obituary from Military.com
Good Morning, Vietnam DJ and Air Force Veteran Adrian Cronauer Dies at 79
Messages and Other Comments
From: Dick Rollins
Date: July 19, 2018
Subject: Adrian Cronauer, AFRS/AFVN Dejay dead at 79
Sorry to hear this, thanks for sending
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Adrian Cronauer, the man whose military radio antics inspired a character played by Robin Williams in the film "Good Morning, Vietnam," has died. He was 79. Mary Muse, the wife of his stepson Michael Muse, confirmed Thursday that Cronauer died Wednesday after a long illness. He had lived in Troutville, Virginia. During his service as a U.S. Air Force sergeant in Vietnam in 1965 and 1966, Cronauer opened his Armed Forces Radio show with the phrase, "Goooooood morning, Vietnam!" Williams made the refrain famous in the 1987 film, loosely based on Cronauer's time in Saigon. The film was a departure from other Vietnam war movies that focused on bloody realism, such as the Academy Award-winning "Platoon." Instead, it was about irreverent youth in the 1960s fighting the military establishment. It was another dangerous day in Vietnam in 1968, nearly 50 years ago, when 101st Airborne soldiers Dallas Brown and Tim Wintenburg were photographed in one of the most iconic pictures of the Vietnam War. (Feb. 12) Media: Associated Press Also. "We were the only game in town and you had to play by our rules," Cronauer told The Associated Press in 1987. "But I wanted to serve the listeners." The military wanted conservative programming. American youths, however, were "not into drab, sterile announcements" with middle-of-the-road music, Cronauer said, and the battle over the airwaves was joined. In the film, Williams quickly drops Perry Como and Lawrence Welk from his 6 a..m. playlist in favor of the Dave Clark Five. Cronauer said he loved the movie, but he said much of the film was Hollywood make-believe. Robin Williams' portrayal as a fast- talking, nonconformist, yuk-it-up disc jockey sometimes gave people the wrong impression of the man who inspired the film. "Yes, I did try to make it sound more like a stateside station," he told The AP in 1988. "Yes, I did have problems with news censorship. Yes, I was in a restaurant shortly before the Viet Cong hit it. And yes, I did start each program by yelling, 'Good Morning, Vietnam!'" The rest is what he delicately called "good script crafting." When the film was released, the presidential campaign of Democrat Jesse Jackson called asking if Cronauer would help out. The conversation died quickly after Cronauer asked the caller if she realized he was a Republican.
In 1992, George H. W. Bush's re-election campaign taped a TV ad slamming Bill Clinton's draft record. In the ad, Cronauer accused Clinton of lying. "In many ways, I'm a very conservative guy," he said. "A lifelong, card-carrying Republican can't be that much of an anti-establishment type." Cronauer was from Pittsburgh, the son of a steelworker and a schoolteacher. He spent 21 years in television, advertising, teaching and freelancing before attending the law school at the University of Pennsylvania and going into the legal profession. He worked in communications law and went on to handle prisoner-of-war issues for the Pentagon. "I always was a bit of an iconoclast, as Robin (Williams) was in the film," Cronauer told the AP in 1999. "But I was not anti-military, or anti-establishment. I was anti-stupidity. And you certainly do run into a lot of stupidity in the military.