[USO TOUR, 2002] FLAG, PLAQUE, AND MILITARY PARAPHERNALIA FROM OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, 2002

Flag and plaque (overall: 38 3/4 x 23 1/8 in.; 98.5 x 58.7 cm). Folded United States flag with military uniform rank patches, hand painted wooden plaque, reading "43rd EAES AELT UZBEKISTAN", framed together. 

Dave Itzkoff, Robin, New York 2018, pp. 342-343

The present lot was given to Williams by the 43rd EAES (Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron) during his 2002 USO tour.  The tour included stops in Qarshi, Uzbekistan, Kandahar, and Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. “Good morning, Afghanistan!” Robin Williams shouted as he entertained troops in a bombed-out hangar at Bagram Air Base. This was the first of many trips Williams would make overseas with the USO.    As the son of a veteran—not to mention an actor whose most lauded roles included that of Adrian Cronauer in Good Morning, Vietnam (1988)—Williams felt compelled to entertain the country's fighting forces. "I wanted to go over there specifically to Afghanistan and to those bases," Williams explained, "to let them know people haven't forgotten them and also, when I get back, to tell people don't forget the people there."