By Melissa Ziobro
HOLMDEL – The only Vietnam War era “Donut Dolly” known to be living in the state of New Jersey paid a visit to the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial and Vietnam War Era Museum recently.
Between 1965 and 1973, 627 brave young women served in Vietnam as volunteers with the Red Cross Supplemental Recreational Activities Overseas (SRAO). Peggy Mott was one of them.
Affectionately known as “Donut Dollies,” the women managed recreation halls at base camps and traveled by helicopter, truck and jeep to reach servicemen further afield.
As Mott recalled, she and her fellow Donut Dollies would serve snacks and Kool-Aid, organize trivia contests and card games, play music and just “try to make the men forget the war for an hour.”
To be accepted as SRAO volunteers by the Red Cross, women had to be college-educated, provide recommendation letters, pass physical exams and have an “outstanding personality.”
Most of the women who served were between 21 and 25 years of age. The Red Cross issued their workers baby blue uniform dresses, but the U.S. Army usually provided them with fatigues, flak vests and helmets when they were in the field.
If you haven’t heard of the Donut Dollies, you’re not alone. The Vietnam veterans who lead tours at the memorial and museum in Holmdel say few visitors have, either. But the Donut Dollies have been serving abroad during wartime since World War I. During previous wars, Red Cross women often made and distributed donuts to troops, giving birth to their nickname.
At a time of war protests and political unrest, Mott had been studying political science at Rutgers University’s Douglass College when someone told her she really couldn’t speak against war unless she had seen war.
So, she decided to see it.
The Glen Ridge native signed up as a Donut Dolly with the full blessing of both of her parents. After a brief training period, Mott flew to Vietnam in November 1967. Landing in Saigon, she was first sent to a U.S. Army unit at Cam Ranh Bay. She was later assigned to Phan Rang, Da Nang and An Khe. She flew back and forth to Quang Tri and other locales, usually by helicopter.
Donut Dollies traveled in groups of two or three, Mott said, and each assignment carried its own logistical concerns. For example, she and her colleagues were staying in a house in a downtown area during the 1968 Tet Offensive, while fighting raged around them.
The enlisted men the women visited were always very respectful, Mott recalled, and she personally viewed the nickname “Donut Dolly” as a term of endearment rather than a patronizing reference.
Vietnam veterans who volunteer as tour guides in Holmdel speak reverentially of the service of the Donut Dollies.
Tour guide Rick Amsterdam is one of them. “While I was on top of Nui Ba Den Mountain, Donut Dollies were scheduled to visit with us. Our Major asked me to accompany him to our chopper pad to greet the girls. The Major and I stood at the chopper pad as the girls landed. Four American Donut Dollies came off the chopper. The girls were there to boost our morale and talk with guys about home,” Amsterdam said. “As the girls, the Major and I began walking towards the path, we got about 25 feet when we began taking rocket and mortar fire from the enemy. We ran the girls back to the chopper, telling them to ‘Get the hell out of here.’ The chopper took off and we never saw any more Donut Dollies. The enemy monitored our radio transmission and knew they were coming, so they fired on us the moment the chopper landed,” he said.
Since he was one of only two people to see the Donut Dollies, Amsterdam said, “For weeks afterwards, my friends from the 25th Infantry would grill me over and over, asking me what the girls looked like. What color hair did they have? What state were they from? What did they say about home? After weeks of questioning, I began making up stories of where they came from in the States. Morale plummeted because we all knew they were coming and the only two people to see or talk with them was the Major and I. ‘Gone in 60 seconds’ had a new meaning.”
Tour guide John Nugent never saw a Donut Dolly during his tour in Vietnam. “But I once had the opportunity to reward a few guys in my platoon by sending them back to the rear area for two days after a long operation,” he said. “When my guys returned to the field, they were aglow with happiness because they had seen and talked with several Donut Dollies. They said the young ladies reminded them of home and what awaited them when they returned to the world. The Donut Dollies were a great morale booster.”
The Red Cross recognized how successful the program was. Near the end of her tour, the organization asked Mott to extend her service, but she became ill with three types of dysentery. She was first hospitalized in Qui Nhon and then Saigon before being evacuated by air to Clark Air Base in the Philippines.
On Christmas Day 1968 she was transferred to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C. After regaining her health, she continued working for the Red Cross for many years, later working for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Last September, U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (NJ- 11) introduced H.R. 8978 in the House of Representatives, seeking to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Donut Dollies for their service in Vietnam. “Donut Dollies have been described as ‘indispensable’ by service-members and military leadership; however, their selfless service to our country has long gone unnoticed,” Sherrill stated in an October 2022 press release. “These women traveled across Vietnam, often facing similar dangers to those in combat – such as incoming sniper, mortar, and ground fire – to provide those serving in the armed forces a brief and welcome reprieve from the war. As a veteran, I am proud to introduce legislation that finally gives these brave volunteers the distinction and recognition they deserve.”
The press release also quoted Peggy Mott. “It is quite an honor that H.R. 8978 has been introduced in the House of Representatives to recognize the untiring efforts of the Red Cross Donut Dollies who served in Vietnam from 1965 to 1973. Those of us who served did so very quietly but were very sincere and felt privileged to be able to provide minimum respite from the conflict to the military personnel at their assigned bases. We were constantly supporting the troops at centers, field bases and forward locales throughout Vietnam. To me, this bill not only acknowledges but also values the individuals who gave a year of their lives to support our military serving in Vietnam. Once the Bill is passed it will become a part of American history and, in its own way, also respect the services of the many American females who were instrumental in supporting the United States military troops serving in all conflicts.”
Unfortunately, the Donut Dollies Congressional Gold Medal Act expired before passage and will need to be reintroduced to proceed. The New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Foundation is hoping to be a partner in this important effort so the stories of these valiant women are not forgotten.
The public is invited to join the NJVVMF in observing NJ Vietnam Veterans’ Remembrance Day in a ceremony 11 a.m. May 7 at the Memorial.
Melissa Ziobro is the Specialist Professor of Public History at Monmouth University and has served on the board of the NJVVMF since 2019.
The article originally appeared in the May 4 – 10, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
