Now in their 70s, these Red Cross women went to war to help
morale
Fresh out of college during the late 1960s, these women
chose an unlikely path far from the anti-war marches and protests across the
U.S.
They went to Vietnam.
They were American Red Cross recreation workers nicknamed
the “Donut Dollies.” Nobody remembers them handing out doughnuts in Vietnam
since, as a mess sergeant grumbled, “It was too damn hot.” But the nickname
stuck since Red Cross workers had, in fact, distributed doughnuts in prior
military campaigns, including World War II.
Applicants for Vietnam had to be single, ages 21 to 24 and
graduates of a four-year college. The Donut Dollies who are alive now are in
their 70s, and though more than 50 years have gone by from their
life-altering, perilous time in Vietnam, their memories are vibrant.
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