While one might not expect to see television icon Ed McMahon on a stage in Chickamauga Park, the long time comedic straight man for Johnny Carson sees it as a fitting place to be this Memorial Day weekend.

If McMahon had not made it as a broadcaster, he said he could have made his career in the military.

“I’m very proud to be a Marine,” he said. “I love the military and if I didn’t love working in show business and broadcasting more, I would have stayed in the military. I got to be a full colonel and I could have been a general.”

McMahon said May 19 by telephone from his office in California that he is happy to be part of the Pops in the Park celebration to honor servicemen and women.

“I am looking forward to it,” he said. “I love military music and I am going to have a great night when I visit the 101st and be around all those great warriors.”

The event, a salute to all military personnel, active duty and veterans, is set for May 28 at Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park. The festivities take place at Wilder Tower with a free concert and fireworks show starting at 7 p.m.

Mike Fuller, Fuller Rehabilitation-Independent Living Aids chief executive officer, said the company is a major sponsor of this event because it allows the nationwide company to participate in the community.

“Most of all this is Memorial Day,” he said. “It is time to honor the servicemen who have given their lives, protecting and defending this country.”

The music

The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Band is a diverse organization serving the musical needs of the soldiers and families of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and the surrounding communities and states. Known as the Army’s Kentucky Ambassadors, the band performs a diverse concert program to include classics, light pop and patriotic music. The band also marches in many military ceremonies and parades on and off Fort Campbell.

The band deployed in 1990 to Operation Desert Shield/Storm and in 2003; the Pride of the Eagle deployed again in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The band divided their efforts on camp security and performing for the troops and local Iraqis in the Northern Sector. More recently, the band participated in the 60th anniversary of the liberation of France and the Netherlands by performing numerous parades, concerts, and ceremonies.

“I served in this division during Vietnam War,” Fuller said. “This division band performs around the world. It is an honor for this community to have these soldiers come and perform here.

“We have the oldest national military park in the United States, what better place to have a concert to honor the soldiers,” he said. It is a great family event. Where can you go and take a fried chicken picnic and hear great music and visit with people and see fireworks.”

Fuller said his company and all the sponsors are honored that TV legend Ed McMahon is joining them for the event.

McMahon said he will be participating in the presentation of the colors, announcing the military band and talking about the history of the 101st Airborne.

“I am very honored to be in the presence of any military person and the 101st Airborne is certainly a group that has gotten incredible honors and well deserved,” McMahon said. “One of our finest fighting units in the world.”

This is the third year that lead sponsor Fuller Rehabilitation – Independent Living Aids has proudly supported Pops in the Park.

Sponsors for this year’s event include Fuller Rehabilitation – Independent Living Aids, Northwest Georgia Bank, Ringgold Telephone Company, Container Service Corporation, Weeks and Peters Insurance, Grant, Konvalinka and Harrison, P.C., Wilkins, Crews and Henderson, P.C., Eastwood and Azia, PLLC, Catoosa and Walker County chambers of commerce. Rain date is Monday, May 30.

McMahon’s military service

McMahon looks back fondly on his military service as a Marine fighter pilot in World War II and the Korean War.

He said he was a student at the Marine base near Jacksonville, Fl. learning how to fly the Corsair — “the very hot marine fighter” — when the Marines sent his instructor and 23 others for service in the Coral Sea.

“The next morning there was seven of us standing there and the commanding officer came by and this general and looked at me. I was the tallest kid in the group. He said, ‘What’s your name,’ and I said, ‘Lieutenant McMahon sir’ and he said, ‘You’re the instructor.’

“So I went from student to instructor in about one minute and that night I had go down to the room where they had all the training manuals and read up on what I was going to talk about on the next day with my guys,” he said.

McMahon was both a test pilot and specialist in teaching carrier landings.

“So that was quite an interesting life I led because you never forget the first moment you land on a carrier and you are always reminded of it every time you land thereafter,” he said. “You can’t believe you have landed on this little postage stamp that is floating in the water. That’s what it looks like when you come in to make your landing.”

Over two years he trained 32 Marine pilots, he said.

After returning to civilian life and broadcasting, he was recalled from the reserves during the Korean War where he flew 85 combat missions over the 38th parallel.

“I hadn’t flown in eight years, so I was assigned to artillery spotting over the front lines up at the 38th parallel where we still have front lines,” he said. “That was not my favorite kind of flying, flying a light aircraft, a Cessna 172, over the front line. That was our job. In the Marine Corp you don’t ask questions you just say ‘Yes, sir.’”

McMahon said his missions were not a walk in the park.

“It was very dangerous flying,” he said. “We had a lot of artillery that just missed me, thank God. It was a great moment when you saw the flack because if you saw it there was a good chance it was not going to hit you. It was one of those things you had to do and you just get up and do it. I would have much rather been on a Corsair.”

A TV legend is born

McMahon found his unique niche as the sidekick to Johnny Carson in October 1958 when he was hired as Johnny Carson’s straight man on the daytime quiz show “Who Do You Trust?” on ABC.

“That’s where most of the things that people met and fell in love with on “The Tonight Show” were first introduced — in that afternoon game show we had for four years,” he said.

When Carson succeeded Jack Paar on NBC’s “Tonight Show,” he took McMahon with him. This job would last for 30 years.

McMahon acted in films such as “The Incident” (1967), “Fun with Dick and Jane” (1977) and ‘Love Affair’ (1994).

Away from his Tonight Show gig he hosted daytime game shows and “Bloopers and Practical Jokes” with Dick Clark, “Star Search” and even worked with Alf on a recent talk show on TVLand. He is one of the most recognizable commercial spokesmen in the country selling countless products in numerous mediums.

McMahon said his military training helped him tremendously in preparing for all the doors that have opened for him in his career.

“People say to me, ‘what did you learn in the Marine Corps that helped you as a broadcaster,’” he said. “What I learned in the Marine Corps was to always be on time. When you arrive somewhere have everything you needed to do the job. You learn that the first day as you are going through boot camp.

“That has carried me through all of my activities,” he said.

He said he looks on personal appearances in essence like a military mission.

He prepares his uniform (wardrobe) and equipment ahead of time and plans his presentation. Like the honorary Air National Guard brigadier general he is, he constructs a well-laid out battle plan.

“The mission is almost like a military mission — to get out there and do the best job I can do,” he said. “You learn that in the military. Every military guy knows that.”

He will be visiting with the public at the Fuller Rehabilitation – Independent Living Aids booth during Pops in the Park. For more information, call (706) 965-4430 ext. 125