 Red Cross Deploying with Troops to
the Persian Gulf |
|
|
More of Sharon's Photos |
There were three categories of Red Cross
Workers in Viet Nam SMH "Service to Military Hospitals"
SMI "Service to Military Installations"
SRAO "Supplemental Recreational Activities Overseas"
|
|
|
|
 Women in Viet Nam |
I am a Vietnam Veteran who served in the 1st Signal Brigade from November 1969 to November 1970, in Long Binh. I just wanted to say, that the job you did & the time you spent in Vietnam was appreciated by more guys than you will every know! Too many times in life we don't stop long enough to say "Thank You for a Job Well Done"! So from one Vietnam Veteran (that's me) to another Vietnam Veteran (that's you), I would like to say this," Thank you very much for the job you did in Vietnam & welcome home"! You did your job the way it was supposed to be done & you should always be proud of that. Without Donut Dollies in Vietnam it would have been much harder for all of us that served there. You & others like you made it a better place to be! Thank you again! Respectfully, |
|
Many Women Served |
|
|
Red Cross |
|
|
Military Nurses |
|
|
Military Women |
|
|
In Memoriam |
|
|
Get Back in Touch |
|
|
Bibliographies |
|
|
Locater Service/Remarks |
|
|
Free Monthly
Newsletter |
|
|
Videos/Stuff to Buy |
|
|
Books |
|
 Photo
Tours |
|
|
Health Stuff |
|
|
Help
for Students |
|
A Donut Dollies Voice - Emily, Donut Dolly & Poet
"when someone asks me what I did in Nam, my usual response is: 'I flew around in helicopters and played games with the guys.' "
Playing Games - Nancy Smoyer, Donut Dolly
"Red Cross Recreation Workers, a.k.a., Donut Dollies, played games. It was our mission, our job, what we were sent to Vietnam to do. We played games in mess halls, on flight lines, in recreation centers, on LZ's, firebases, along the road--wherever there were GIs."
Year in Nam - Sharon (Vander Ven) Cummings,
SRAO April 1966-67
"The question asked most often of us was, "Why are you here?" My usual reply was, "Because you are." No matter how tired we might get, there was always another smile and a wave for the guys."
Front
line troops, deep in her heart: Dixie Ferguson - Pat Christion
"Asked about what she misses most being in Vietnam, she answered, 'paved roads and springs in cars.' "
Women
in Vietnam Remember - Debby Griffith McSwain, SRAO
"He told me, 'Go talk to that young man because he is going to die.' I held his hand and talked to him and then I had to leave," MacSwain said. "It was a critical time for me. After that experience, everything else fell into place."
Frequently
Asked Questions - Sharon Cummings
Students, this is what you are looking for!
"In Dong Tam, mortar attacks occurred more nights than not. I learned quickly to distinguish incoming from outgoing, to listen for the 3 marker rounds (even in my sleep), and to immediately determine if the rounds were walking toward me or away. I could decide in a few seconds if the attack required my going to the bunker. Whether or not a mortar attack was memorable was determined by it's proximity to each person's location."
Return to Vietnam: A Red Cross Donut Dolly's Trip Back - Nancy Smoyer, Donut Dolly
"My primary reason for going back was to get over the feelings of anger and animosity I've carried for the Vietnamese for 25 years. Although I was well aware intellectually that my feelings were for the most part irrational, I also knew that I wouldn't get over them until I went back."
Susan Bradshaw McLean: The Long and Painful Road to Healing - George F. Slook
"Back at The Wall now, Susan once again feels the pain and anger of Ginny’s loss. She is outraged at the tragic irony of Ginny [Kirsch] being murdered by someone she came to serve. She laments the great injustice of her killer being honorably discharged and residing comfortably in the air-conditioned confines of a psychiatric ward. And Susan is disappointed that the only recognition of Ginny’s sacrifice is her name on a rock in the Red Cross headquarters’ garden.
Ginny is a patriot who gave her life for her country. She has earned a place on The Wall. But her name is not there! And her presence is sorely missed."
Susan Bradshaw McLean: The Long and Painful Road to Healing (Another Chapter)- George F. Slook
"Susan is a Vietnam Veteran. In common vernacular, these words suggest a military role. However, Susan and hundreds like her served their country as members of the American Red Cross. She was a 'Donut Dollie.' "
Dollies
Boost Morale - Sharon McCullough, Betty Jolley, & Diane, Nov. 68,
173d Airborne Brigade
"When the Donut Dollies visit the hospitals, they bring special Red Cross 'comfort packets', of reading materials, puzzles and word games."
Donut
Dollies, 9th Inf. Div. - Mary Ann Hughes, Betsy, Misty, Sandy, Pat Owen
"Three out of five games wins the contest, or maybe four out of seven, if you can call it winning because the girls leave when the contest ends, a major loss to both teams."
Remarks at the Wall on Behalf of the Vietnam Women's Memorial Project - Kathryn Wrolstad Ling, ARC, SMH, RVN, 1967-68
"It is a great honor to be here today and to speak on behalf of the 265,000 women who served during the Vietnam War Era. While I represent all the women who's service is recognized by the Vietnam Women's Memorial, today I will focus briefly on the area of service in which I was enrolled: The American Red Cross."
Memoir
"The Seas of War" - Barbara Williamson Pomarolli
"I spent most of the day writing letters for patients in the ICU. The wounds were almost too much to bear. I helped a patient write who couldn't talk because he had been shot in the jaw and head. One patient lost both legs and one arm, was shot in the face and stomach, and did not live long. My admiration for the nurses and corpsmen on that Ward grows with each visit."
A Soldier Writes his Mother about Donut Dollies - Paul Kopsick
" . . . we had a visit from a pair of girls from the red cross. They are supposed to come every week to spend some time with us playing some little games that they dream up."
Another Kind of Veteran, but a Veteran Nonetheless - Nancymay Healey
"The bottom fell out of my elation today. I was contacted by a reporter of a South Jersey newspaper who wanted to do a Memorial Day feature of women veterans. I began to tell my story. She cut me off. She wasn't interested. I spent my year in 'Nam, but wasn't a veteran.
I was only a civilian."
Coming
Home from Vietnam - LtCol Paula Haley
"I expected people to be interested in what was happening in Vietnam, and I thought people wanted to know about what it was like in this strange foreign country…..but they didn’t. Most of my friends were angry about the war and at me for going to Vietnam as a volunteer Red Cross “Donut Dolly.” When I landed in San Francisco, I called an old college friend who lived close to Travis Air Force Base. Little did I know that she had become a war protester while I was gone. She did come to see me but was angry and she scorned me at the airport. That was a not the type of welcome I had dreamed about."
Genie - A Donut Dolly at Cam Ranh Bay
"Then, a real miracle happened. Genie had placed a photo of herself and her unit wading on the beach at Cam Ranh at the base of the Vietnam Women's Memorial and many people started looking at it. After a few moments, a man picked up the picture and looked at it very intently."
Vietnam -- 1 Year + 25 - Nancy Smoyer, Donut Dolly
"Vietnam gave us who we are and keeps trying to take it away. It gave us who we are and won't let us be who we want to be."
Gwen
Austin Turbyfield - Career Red Cross (Poetry)
"One of my favorite stories of how one should never try to plan anything when in the military was this: While I was still working at Madigan Hospital, Gary came up on orders for Thailand, so I figured that at least we could be in the same continent if I volunteered for duty with the Red Cross in Vietnam. Sure enough, my orders came through for the 12th Evacuation Hospital, Cu Chi, Vietnam, departing March 1967. Gary's orders were changed - he got sent to Labrador! Never again did we try to make plans - just went with the flow!"
A
Final Mission: Facing the Wounds - Judith Hansen, Donut Dolly
"Silently, except for the scrape of chairs, the men instinctively rose and, standing at attention, sang "The Marines' Hymn" for her at the top of their lungs. The spontaneous, disciplined eruption of feeling was the highest tribute they could pay, their most heartfelt salute."
Jeannie
Christie - Letter from Vietnam
"…Several times a week we visit the hospital. We see fellows with their arms and legs blown off, their heads smashed in and pieced together, eyes lost and hearts completely broken."
Academic Papers & Reports
Women
Warriors of the Crimea and Vietnam: A Comparison of Fact and Fiction by
Julia Sexton
Official Red Cross History of the Vietnam War - Not much here actually, a poor effort as far as their history goes.
In 1962, the Red Cross sent its first paid field staff to Vietnam to assist the growing number of servicemen at various bases and hospitals. At the height of its involvement in Vietnam in 1968, 480 field directors, hospital personnel, and recreation assistants served throughout Southeast Asia.
Red Cross Recreation Centers |
||
| Da Nang | Phu Loi | |
| Bearcat | Di An | Phuoc Vinh |
| Bien Hoa | Dong Ba Thin | Pleiku Army & Air Force |
| Bin Luy | Dong Tam | Quang Tri |
| Camp Eagle | Lai Khe | Qui Nhon |
| Camp Enari | Long Binh | Saigon |
| Cam Ranh Bay Army & Air Force |
Long Gaio | Tuy Hoa |
| Cu Chi | Nha Trang | Xuan Loc |
| Chu Lai | Phan Rang Army & Air Force |
|
| Black Horse | Phu Bai | |
I am looking for photos of the hospitals, service clubs, and Red Cross recreation centers to link to, or put up on the website. Here is the sort of thing I want. Please if you can assist or if you have a website or photos I can link to.
 "The picture was taken on top of Nui Ba Den in December of 1968. It shows Donut Dollies singing Christmas carols for a bunch of us Grunts in the 25th Infantry Division (Alpha Co. 3/22)." - Jim Farrell This number of women was very unusual as Donut Dollies usually worked in pairs when not at base camps. |
Few of us were there as volunteers. We went out of a sense of duty, but you went as volunteers. In the case of those assigned to the First Division, you were stuck in Rocket City, Lai Khe, the same as a good chunk of the division, and therefore subject to the same routine rocket and mortar attacks and the occasional visit from sappers as we were. However, no one got drunk and broke into our hooches, played peeping tom, looked for ways to hit on us while we did our job, or bitched if we didn't respond positively. I know for a fact that such was not the case for you. Thanks again for volunteering, for being there with us, for caring, for putting up with our nonsense and for still loving us. Your role has been under reported, under appreciated and under compensated. |
|
|
|
| 11th Armored Cav...Lizann Malleson, Nancy, Kathy Ormond | FSB Baxter 1970 |
| 11th Combat Aviation Battalion...Patty Fortenbery | FSB
Mai Loc, Nov. '70- Jan. '71 FSB Mai Loc, Nov. '70- Jan. '71 |
| 101st
Airborne 101st Airborne 101st Airborne A Co....Pam Pearson & Barbara Dillon 1970/71 |
FSB Siberia...a wonderful tonic for what was otherwise a very lousy excuse for a war. |
| 173d Airborne |
Programming at a
Firebase Programming at a Firebase |
| 199th Ramona Cleary, Sue Pulliam | Bob Hope Show 1970 Judy |
|
2/12
Camp Husky 2/12 Camp Husky 2/12 Delta 69-70 |
Christmas with Marines 1966 |
| 62 I.P.C.T. | Observation Post 1 |
| C/7/15 1967 | AFVN |
| Cu
Chi 1966 Cu Chi & Red Dirt |
|
| Marble Mountain Hooch | |
| South Vietnam....Loretta Clause plays cards, talks, etc., with Marines of H&S, 1st Marine Division | |
| Do you know these Dollies? If you do, contact CMarsh51@aol.com Click on photo to enlarge? |
|
|
| "My name is Chuck Marshall, I was in 541st Trans. in Pleiku and An Khe. Anytime I could get to QuiNhon, I would try to get over to the "club" (can't think of the word for it.) You could talk to these girls, play checkers, play pool. They had a guest book that sure would be interesting to find or see again. There was one girl - I know her name was Patty McKinney - I used to talk to a lot and I think I was walking her to her quarters one day and ran into the other two girls (in the pictures) who were off duty, that's why I think they had civilian clothes on. On the other hand, my memory isn't really that good but I can't remember seeing them in a "white " uniform like the other girls in the pictures for Qui Nhon. Also, if you have some kind of "locater", I have been looking for Patty for a few years now to talk to her again." | ||
DONUT DOLLY NEWSLETTER
Donut Dollies should send an e-mail to fnnrs@AURORA.UAF.EDU to get on this
periodic mailing list
| Incountry Women (ICW) | ICW: an email discussion group for many women who served in Vietnam. |  |
My Vietnam Related Websites:
Women in Vietnam
~ Not only nurses served . . .
Dusty's Home Page
~ Poetry and prose by a woman who was a nurse in Vietnam
Emily's
Poetry ~ By a Red Cross Donut Dolly
Battle Dressing ~ The Journey of a Nurse in Vietnam
Tim O'Brien's Home Page
~ National Book Award Winner and Americal Vet
Shrapnel in the Heart
~ The most moving book you will read on Vietnam
The
Irish on the Wall ~ An effort to locate the Irish who died in Vietnam
Project
Hearts and Minds ~ Help put Viet Nam back together
All About Vietnam
~ An annotated bibliography of books about Vietnam for sale thru Amazon
Worldwide!
Photos from a Holts' Military History Tour
~ My trip to
Vietnam, February 1998
Illinois
Vietnam Women's Memorial ~ Honoring all the Illinois women who served
|
United States |
United Kingdom |
|
Germany |
France |
|
|
 |
 |
| Page last updated September 22, 2003 | |
