In 2010 the Mobile, AL Navy League honored Ann-Margret, the Swedish-born, Emmy-winning and Academy Award-nominated actress who toured the globe to entertain troops, as their Patriot of the Year. She was given a plaque at the luncheon, held at the Fort Whiting Armory auditorium, and she served as the grand marshal in Mobile’s annual Veterans Day parade that
traveled through downtown.

The actress reminisced with the crowd at the luncheon about a 1966 show that she performed in Vietnam in “black tights and knee-high boots” in the sweltering heat, with her hair shellacked to the sides of her cheeks, she said. She had been hosed down with so much hairspray, the actress said, that although she was sweating profusely, “my hair never moved!”

“I can never put into words what it was like looking out from a makeshift stage and seeing so many faces,” Ann-Margret said. “I remember the applause and the laughter and then we would go home. But those men would have to face another day. You know, each of you holds a very special place in my heart. All of you represent the America I love and cherish.”

Source: http://blog.al.com/live/2010/11/actress_ann-margret_honored_as.html