SNAPSHOTS
1954 Blonde bombshell
Halfway through honeymooning in Japan with her baseball star husband Joe DiMaggio, Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe took a quick trip to the recently divided Korean Peninsula in February 1954. She alternated between several military bases over a four-day period, entertaining approximately 100,000 American service personnel with songs from her movies, such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Despite the sub-zero temperatures, which later left her fighting bronchial pneumonia, Monroe found the whole experience exhilarating, remarking that it was the first time she had truly felt like a star.