Doughnut Dollies

American Red Cross girls during World War II

Helen Airy

• Publisher: Sunstone Press
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781611399981
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

American service men in England during World War II called American Red Cross girls "Doughnut Dollies." It was a warm and affectionate term designed to show the soldiers' appreciation for the morale-building efforts of the American Red Cross. The Red Cross girls operated "clubmobiles" which were driven to air bases where the girls served fresh doughnuts, hot coffee, and broadcast Big Band music over loud-speakers to welcome airmen as they returned from missions overseas. Red Cross girls also helped establish and operate recreation clubs wherever American service men were stationed. In London, fourteen American Red Cross clubs furnished entertainment, meals, snacks and maintained dormitories for soldiers on leave. This novel is the story of two Red Cross Aero Club directors stationed on air fields where they were instructed to establish recreation clubs. It is a story of their accomplishments, frustrations, romances, and the tragedies they witnessed and experienced.

Chapter 1

SAYING GOOD-BYE

Lisa Medina, reporter on the staff of the San Francisco Examiner, was enjoying her day off. It was Sunday morning, December 7, 1941. She was sistting on the sofa in the living room of her apartment on Nob Hill overlooking beautiful San Francisco Bay. She was knitting a sweater, humming along with the music on her radio, and thinking about where she and Steve would be going that evening on their regular Saturday night date.

Lee Yoshimoto, Lisa’s Japanese house-boy, was working in the kitchen. Lee was a quiet young man who worked efficiently and did not talk much. Lisa had hired him without question from a local employment agency, and he had been with her every Saturday morning for the past three months.

Suddenly, an excited voice came over the radio, breaking into the music program without apology: “Japanese war planes bombed the United States naval fleet at Pearl Harbor this morning at dawn.”

As suddenly as it came in, the voice cut off, and the music continued. “Did I hear what I thought I heard?” she asked herself.

Shortly the voice was back on the radio, calmer this time, methodically relating details of the bombing at Pearl Harbor. Lisa called to Lee to come listen.

Lee stepped into the living room, and listened without comment, his arms folded in front of him. When the voice on the radio stopped, Lee said quietly: “I must leave.”

Lisa was startled: “Why?” she asked.

“I am to report to the authorities.”

Lisa was silent. She was trying to collect her thoughts that were scattering about frantically trying to comprehend what was happening to her world. “You won’t be in trouble, will you?” she asked.

“No,” Lee answered.”At least I don’t think so. But they’ll probably intern me for the duration.”

“You mean they’ll put you in jail?”

“Probably in a camp of some kind until the war is over. But I have to report immediately or risk punishment”

“I’ll pay you for the rest of the morning,” Lisa said, as she reached for her purse on the coffee table and took out a ten dollar bill which she handed to Lee.

“I’m sorry,”she said. “If there's anything I can do...”

“I’m sorry, too,” Lee said as he turned towards the door.

Then he was gone, and Lisa never saw him again. After Lee left, a strange thought entered Lisa's mind. She really didn’t know anything about Lee. Perhaps he might be one of the enemy. He seemed to know a lot about what was happening. Immediately she was ashamed of her suspicions, and vowed that she would never again allow herself to jump to conclusions without knowing the facts. Lisa was a reporter and that was the first thing you learned in the journalistic profession. Lee, she was sure, was even more of a victim than she. His education as a student at San Francisco State would be disrupted. Maybe he would be sent back to Japan and would be drafted into the Japanese army, or maybe as he said, he would be interned in the United States. Lisa was sorry that she hadn’t asked Lee where she could reach him.

The phone rang. It was Steve calling. Steve was Lisa’s concern now. Certainly he would be drafted. It was a thought that overwhelmed her. Within the last few minutes Lisa’s life had been turned upside down.

“Have you heard the news?”Steve asked.

“Yes, I’ve heard.”

“I’ll be over.”

Lisa hung up the phone in a daze. Steve was more than a friend. She and Steve had been a twosome for almost five years. They dated all through four years of college, and it was understood between them that shortly, as soon as Steve was established in a suitable job, they would marry. In the meantime Steve was living in an apartment he shared with his older sister, Jessica, who was a schoolteacher and Lisa’s friend. There were no problems for Lisa and Steve. Everything was O.K. Until now....

Lisa opened the door at Steve’s knock, and Steve took her in his arms and held her tight. Steve was a tall man, and ruggedly handsome. He was the kind of man Lisa had always admired. He was one who took command, and who always seemed to know the right path to take. Lisa depended upon him, and had never doubted that he would always be there when she needed him.

Steve led Lisa to the sofa, and when they were seated, he turned to her and held her face between his hands: “You know what this means?”

“Yes, it means you’ll be leaving soon.”

“That’s right. I’ve been thinking about this for some time. I didn’t expect it to happen so soon, and not this way, but I expected we would be at war soon. So there are some things I have to tell you.”

Lisa was crying, and Steve was upset. He had seen Lisa cry only once before when she received word of her father’s death. Steve took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped her eyes. “Please don’t cry, Lisa,” he pleaded, “please. You know I love you. There isn’t another girl for me, and none as beautiful.”

Steve stroked Lisa’s long dark hair, a special way he had of showing affection. “You’ve got everything a man could dream of,” he continued. “You’ve got wonderful wavy brown hair, big brown eyes, a curvy figure, and a smile that always melts my heart and I know you’ve got guts. No matter what happens, I know you can take it.”

Lisa stopped crying. “Thanks, Steve,” she said. “I needed that. I’ll try. I knew it was coming, too, but I thought we had some time. And by the way, you’re pretty wonderful, yourself.”

Steve laughed. “Thanks,” he said. “And now there’s one other thing I have to tell you. I’ve thought about this for a time and I don’t want you to misunderstand what I’m going to say to you. I don’t want you to sit around waiting for me to come back. I want you to be as happy as you can be while I’m gone. Date other guys if you like. I’ll take my chances, but don’t stay home and get the blues. I’m telling you this because I love you, and I don’t want you to be unhappy.”

Lisa was thinking of course she would be blue and unhappy. There would never be another man in her life like Steve. He had to be the best looking, the kindest and most wonderful man there was. “Let’s not go out tonight,’’she said. “I want us to be alone tonight. I’ll prepare supper here.”

Steve laughed, “That’s the best idea you’ve had lately. How about a glass of red wine?”

“You pour,’’Lisa suggested. She always liked to see Steve pour wine. He did it with such a flourish, throwing a large jug of wine over his shoulder and pouring into a glass he held in his left hand. It was so characteristic of Steve. She had seen him do it many times during the last years when friends were gathered at Steve and Jessica’s apartment for Saturday night dinners.

It was after midnight when Steve left. Lisa was alone, and she knew that within a few days, Steve would be gone, and she would be alone without even the hope that he would be coming back soon.

There was a party the next evening at Steve and Jessica’s garden apartment Steve, as usual, poured the red wine and Jessica served Italian spaghetti and San Francisco sour dough bread. Jessica was a few years older than the University students who gathered at her apartment on Saturday evenings. Lisa often wondered why Jessica had never married. Probably in her mid thirties, Jessica seemed more like a chaperon than a participant in the gaiety that went on amongst the students. Tall, and statuesque, with soft brown eyes and short wavy brown hair, and a quietly commanding way about her, she tended to the needs of everyone. Lisa thought Jessica was one of the most wonderful people she had ever known, a very special person who always seemed to know how to make everybody happy. This evening, however, everyone felt like crying because they all knew that this would be the last party for a while. But no one cried. Instead they laughed and joked, and Lisa held back her tears, and laughed too. When the party was over Steve drove Lisa back to her apartment on Nob Hill. To Lisa's surprise he kissed her at the door, and did not enter the apartment. “It’s too painful to say good-bye,” he said, and he turned and left.

As Steve had predicted, he was accepted into the Army Air Force within a few days and was sent off to be trained as a pilot. Lisa never saw him again.

Lisa continued with her job as a publicity reporter, covering the sad tales of businessmen who were called to serve their country, leaving families and businesses behind. It was also distressing to say good-bye to the Japanese retailers along Grant Avenue, who were selling their wares at discount prices, leaving their stores, and reporting to the military authorities to be sent to internment camps for the duration. There was something tragic about their situation, and to Lisa it seemed unfair. The Americans of Japanese descent were loyal Americans who tried to tell everyone that they were anxious to fight on the U.S. side, but no-one would listen. At one point, the Japanese community at great expense and effort produced a play showing Japanese American men dressed in U.S. uniforms fighting against the Japanese military. Although numerous invitations were sent out to the public and the press, Lisa was the only non-Asian in attendance, and she was saddened.

It was a dreary time, and Lisa was restless. Steve was writing almost every day, but his letters were becoming restricted in detail and shorter. All she knew was that he was someplace in Alaska, Lisa was finding that letter-writing was no substitute for his company, but his letters helped to keep his image fresh in her mind, Steve had a zest for living and a spirit for adventure that, as a young man, had taken him around the world, working as a stevedore on cargo ships where he lived and worked with men as tough as himself, Steve was already a grown man with an unusual sense of responsibility when he entered the University of California to further his education. It was there that Steve and Lisa met and fell in love.

Steve was three years older than Lisa, and he had always seemed much more mature than the college boys who were his colleagues at the University of California. Steve and Lisa were freshmen when they met, and Lisa could never understand why he loved her. Steve was the kind of man every girl dreamed about, and Lisa knew that he could have had girls who were prettier, smarter, and more talented than she. Now Lisa missed him. Sometimes when she was alone in the apartment, Lisa deliberately tried to put Steve out of her mind because when she thought about him she would slip into a dark depression that was devastating. She had to keep trying to be happy, as she promised Steve she would. But it wasn’t easy. Sometimes she feared that Steve might grow away from her and be different when he returned as a war hero. She feared that he might find that the girl he had left behind had become dull and unexciting. For some strange reason, the thought that he might not return never entered her mind.

At first, when the war fever ran high, Lisa didn’t feel the loneliness so much because she and her girl friends were caught up in a social whirl of “going away to war” parties for young men who were being drafted or were enlisting. Finally, all who were left were the 4F’s, the draft dodgers, and the married men with children. Lisa refused to enter into competition for the 4F’s, was adamant in declining the propositions of the draft dodgers who wanted to “hide out” in her apartment, and she emphatically rejected the advances of the married men with children who had wives who didn’t understand them.

There was no doubt about it, the action had passed her by, and Lisa was lonely.

It was December, 1942. Steve had been gone for almost a year, and Lisa no longer knew where he was, or what he was doing.

She was voicing her complaints to Geraldine, the office secretary, who was also grieving because her own fiance had been drafted.

“Everyone’s leaving this city,” Lisa said, “and if I knew where to go, I’d go too.”

“Not everybody,” Geraldine replied, “just the men.”

“That’s true,” Lisa agreed. “We ought to do something about it.”

“Like stop the war?”

“No, like getting a military job. Maybe we could be WACs or something.”

“Geraldine shook her head. “I don’t know about that The pay isn’t much and there’s no security, and besides, I promised to wait”

“I’d be willing to sacrifice pay and security for a little excitement,” Lisa said, and immediately felt a pang of guilt. If Geraldine could wait patiently, why was she so restless? Then she remembered that Steve had told her not to stay home and get the blues, and she knew she had to do something to make her life more meaningful.

“If action is what you want,” Geraldine said, “here’s an item in the paper that might interest you.”

Lisa took the paper and read: “In the grey light of dawn, women wearing the dark grey uniform of the American Red Cross are quietly boarding troop ships, and sailing away to the war fronts with American GI’s.”

Methodically, Lisa folded the paper, laid it on the desk, picked up her purse and gloves, stood up, and said, “See you later, Geraldine. I’m off to enlist.”

Lisa walked out of the San Francisco Examiner office, through the revolving outside door, on to Market Street where she caught a street car to Civic Center.

Lisa entered the old Civic Auditorium, made her way through ply-board petitioned war-time offices to the San Francisco area office of the American Red Cross where a motherly looking woman wearing the uniform of the American Red Cross greeted her, inquired her mission, and handed her an application form to fill out.

At that time, joining the American Red Cross was surprisingly easy. The personnel department was having difficu...