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During the eight years of American combat activity in the war (1965-1972), the Red Cross handled more than 2,168,000 emergency communications between servicemen and their families. Red Cross field directors and chapter staff at home assisted an average of 27,800 servicemen each month with personal and family problems. An average of over 280,000 servicemen a month participated in recreation activities at Red Cross centers and in SRAO programs in Vietnam and neighboring countries.
Military commanders expressed high praise for the Red Cross, calling the services of the organization "indispensable" and "prime factors" in their efforts to maintain the high morale of their men and to look after their welfare. Writing to Red Cross national headquarters in 1968, General William Westmoreland, then commander of the U.S. forces in Southeast Asia, stated, "Serving our men on the battlefields here in Vietnam, the American Red Cross is a hotline to the folks back home, an oasis in the heat of battle, and a comfort during hospitalization." The excellence of this service stemmed from the generation of skilled leadership and experience that the Red Cross developed during World War II, the Korean War and the intervening years to help millions of servicemen and women cope with personal and family emergencies and hardships.
Brien R. Williams, Historian
American Red Cross Museum
August 2004
There were 627 Donut Dollies who served in Nam. They logged about 2,125,000 air miles among them
REFLECTIONS FROM THE WALL...
" I am a monument to a black period in this country's history.
I am the Vietnam wall, composed to two angled granite walls, inscribed with the names of fifty eight thousand, one hundred thirty four American men and women who died in hell (that was Vietnam)
Many people come to see me, they come mostly in silence, old people, young people, children, mothers, fathers, widows,and veterans, all for reasons of their own.
They bring gifts, pictures, letters, flowers, poems and cigarettes.
The letters speak of grief and loneliness and regret.
They ask forgiveness. They are an out pouring, of pain.
The people softly touch names on my face.
They water my grass with tears.
Then...they leave in silence and I hope in peace.
For I am more than two stone walls.
I am a thank you from a nation that forgot.
I am a long past due apology.
I am healing for wounds, too long left untended.
I am a tribute paid to fallen warriors.
I AM THE VIETNAM WALL.
(Author Unknown)
