Bing Crosby struggled to sing 'White Christmas' to troops, ‘most difficult thing’ in his career

Bing Crosby once said the most difficult thing he ever did in his decades-long career was sing "White Christmas" to homesick troops in France in December 1944.

"'[W]e had a lot of laughs and the boys were having a wonderful time, great fun.' But he said at the end of the show, ‘I had to sing "White Christmas." And I had to get through the song with 15,000 guys in tears and not break up myself.'"

"I asked Uncle Bing one time, ‘What was the single most difficult thing you ever had to do in your career?’ We were out playing golf one day, and I didn't know what he was going to say," Howard told Fox News Digital. "I didn't know if he was going to say, ‘Well, it was, you know, learning lines for the movies or working with a difficult director.’"

He continued, "He didn't have to think about it at all. He said, ‘Well, 1944, we were over with the USO troupe.’ And he said, 'We gave an open-air concert for 15,000 GIs and British Tommies in an open-air field in France.'"