It was reported on the evening news that the Red Cross was attempting to atone for the fact that they charged the troops for coffee and donuts during WWII.
This truly angered my father who refused to give anything to the Red Cross after he found out about it.
He directed all his charity donations to the Salvation Army in protest of the Red Cross.
Strange what the cobwebs of time keep hidden deep in the old brain cells.
Lew
======>They haven't changed there stripes or spots in all that time, i.e., WTC contributions diversion and their fiasco providing help to Katrina victims. I have stopped all donations to them, and like your Dad, opted to donate to the Salvation Army.
Leif
I believe that is not an uncommon attitude among veterans of that era.
Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA
I too will not donate to the Red Cross. I forget now the situation, but at one time the government gave the Red Cross blankets for the victims of a flood or something. The Red Cross was selling these blanket to the victims. I too donate to the Salvation Army and any items that I want to get rid of, donate to the local Salvation Army store for them to sell.
Paul T.
When I hear these stories, I always check out snopes.com to check the veracity. Here's the link, interesting reading.
Interesting reading indeed. It's amazing how urban legends and myths come to have lives of their own. Mis-information must be self propagating. Tom
I remember my Dad having the exact same sentiments for the same reasons.
This is at odds with my dad's experience in the navy in the Philippines and south pacific. He's now deceased but I remember his anger very well.
While perhaps true, it's likely not "the rest of the story"...they undoubtedly weren't in position to know the whole truth.
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One would expect a dance in the US to be a fund-raiser, where everyone in attendance is expected to do their part.
...
Certainly not necessarily so at the end of WWII in particular would I expect that....as noted, though, I would be willing to bet there were other circumstances similar if not identical to, those outlined previously.
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Perhaps, but if you're raising funds to comfort the troops, then the money should come from ... the troops??? No. Not in my estimation.
My stepmother as a young woman was asked to volunteer at this dance in order to "do something nice for the troops". She was assigned to SELL them drinks and snacks. It didn't seem to her that she was doing anything FOR them.
My father, at a west coast airport, watched as the red cross sold coffee and donuts to soldiers - to GIs both returning and leaving for pacific areas.
Like I said, I wasn't there. I'm relying on their experience, and that there really doesn't seem to be a "rest of the story" here. At least not one that justifies the behavior.
I have a friend (a Korea vet) that is spending his retirement as a red cross volunteer. I know that he does good and necessary things with that organization. My point wasn't that I think the red cross is evil... Just that I know two people that can personally discredit the snopes account of the era.
Nothing in their account does anything to discredit the Snopes account
-- it addressed overseas fixed-location facilities, not stateside temporary set ups. And again, unless one has the information in detail on the organization of the events, etc., one doesn't have "the rest of the story", all one has is the perception of an attendee or bystander.
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If you're raising the money for the troops stuck in some hellhole overseas then I don't see anything wrong with raising some of it off the troops who are safe and warm in New York or California.
By your reasoning they'd give the troops war bonds for free.
Why would they need anything done FOR them?
Oh, yeah, those guys were in real danger sitting in an airport.
The purpose of the red cross is not to distribute free coffee and donuts to people in airports. I just don't understand that attitude that expects everything they do to be free. If you're going to sleep in a warm bed tonight and not be shot at tomorrow morning and you don't have any holes in you or parts missing and you got your pay last week and you're going to get it next week and your mail is going to catch up with you and you had an Army breakfast and you're going to get an Army dinner and they're going to pay you a travel allowance for your lunch (which they do when you're travelling on orders but not when you're travelling on leave) then you don't have any need for free services from the Red Cross.
If they were profiteering over guys bleeding in the field that would be something to get upset about but you're complaining because they don't give people safe in rear areas freebies.
OK. I'm of the opinion that our troops deserve special consideration whether they're coming, going, or on station. Apparently at least two people disagree. We'll just have to agree to disagree.
That's a completely different question, however...
I don't disagree about the "deserving", just disagree about the impugned motive of the RC...
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I've got two particular, personal memories of the Red Cross: I was stationed at Cherry Point when my father died, and the Red Cross arranged for my notification, leave, and transport to the New York area, all at no cost; a few years years later, the entire block I was living in burned, and my wife and myself got out in the clothing we had on, with much of our cash (pretty much pre-credit card days, and college students to boot) and pretty much all else of value turned to ash, at which time the Red Cross arranged for a place for us to stay, and gave us chits for clothing at a local store, after making sure the store was open. Again, no charge.
I have to wonder about the situations encountered where the Red Cross is said to have charged servicemen for coffee and donuts. My two uncles, one returning from carrier duty in the Atlantic, and one an Army CB tour in the South Pacific, said their Red Cross coffee and buns were free. I can see possibilities where a nickel or dime for a coffee and donut got collected to help supplement overseas offerings. I've heard of a couple of cases where the the payment was voluntary. And I've heard the stories about the Red Cross collecting without any apparent reason, but based on my own experience, and that of my own family members, I have to say I think we're again looking at a part of the story, not the whole thing. Were these fund raising events? Do we know? Did anyone ask, or did they do, as so many of us do, simply get angry without finding out all the facts?
"Charlie Self" wrote
The donuts, coffee, and paperbacks books were free in RVN the one time I saw a contingent of 'Donut Dollies' ... they didn't quite frequent the mostly Vietnamese (all but me) area I was in.
But I do recall that they had the cutest little butts I'd seen in a good while, which was worth a damn sight more than the coffee and donuts at the time.
ARC also did better than FEMA ,when we flooded out a few years back, who were insisting upon giving me a double wide trailer for my driveway ... all
10' x' 15' of it.I finally gave up when the dude with the new table notebook showed up to do a 'damage assessment' but simply wasn't smart enough to work it. He told me he was getting $100 a house, and he was "doing" 8 to 12 a day.
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