Former Donut Dolly Betsy Tanner Recalls Her Service with Pride

By Stephanie Kriner, freelance writer and ARCAN member

It is clear that the former American Red Cross Donut Dolly performed her job with the kind of cheer required. When Betsy Tanner talks about the realities of volunteering in the midst of the Vietnam War, she tends to focus on the positives, such as doing her part to bring even small moments of happiness to the American soldiers thrown into battle and away from home for the first time. 

“We were there to bring some joy and a sense of caring,” Betsy explains about her role and the roles of other women who served in the Red Cross’ Supplemental Recreational Activities Overseas (SRAO) program during the Vietnam War. Originally named Donut Dollies for their work in World War II, when they actually served donuts and coffee to troops on the frontlines, during the Vietnam War, SRAO volunteers’ jobs thrust them into the war zone to provide soldiers with a morale boost. 

While not trained mental health professionals or warned about the kind of trauma that the soldiers would face, Donut Dollies, women between the ages of 21 and 24, found themselves tending to the psychological health of the young men in combat as much as the nurses addressed the young men’s physical health issues. 

For Betsy, who had recently graduated from college, this meant 12-hour days that began when she boarded a helicopter at 6 am and ended when the helicopter returned her to base camp at 6 pm. During those long days, Betsy, now 79, would travel over the jungle, stopping at dusty, muddy and humid camps. There, she encountered the soldiers, barely men at 18 or 19 and just a few years younger than her, struggling to deal with the emotional toll of the war. “We couldn’t make them happy,” she admits. “There was no way to make them happy, but, for a fleeting moment, they could have a sense of the world back home and what it was like to see an American female.” These fleeting moments made all the hardship she encountered worth it, according to Betsy. 

One of 627 Donut Dollies to serve in Vietnam, Betsy, who was 21 at the time she entered the war in 1968, recalls how she and the other women created games that could serve as conversation starters and warm the soldiers up to speak to them. “Using the programs gave the men a chance to get involved in the games and relax. We introduced ourselves with our first name and our hometown,” Betsy says. “Once the ice was broken, the men were more willing to come up and say, ‘hi,’ especially if one of us was from their town or state.” 

Often, the surprising arrival of American women was enough to distract the soldiers, at least for a short time, from the drudgery and suffering of war, according to Betsy. She describes a picture taken of a group of young soldiers with their mouths and eyes wide open. The photo captured their faces at the moment when they spotted Betsy and another Donut Dolly, who had just hopped off the helicopter to visit them.  

“That’s the reaction we would get, mouth dropping of guys looking at us,” says Betsy.  “Our mission was to remind them of their sisters, girlfriends and families back home and bring a bit of variety to their days. We knew we were appreciated because we were always thanked and asked to come again.” Often, the best a Donut Dolly could do was offer this kind of distraction, whether from the terrors or boredom of war, Betsy admits. “The Support Troops were the really bored ones sitting around until suddenly they had to fire the big artillery if they were rocketed in the middle of the night,” she explains. “We were trying to interrupt that boredom by distraction or maybe getting them to laugh at funny games.”

Betsy particularly enjoyed devising games that would inspire competition among the men. “If we divided them into two teams, they would get competitive, which would loosen up the situation because they would get engaged,” she explains.

Donut Dollies, clad in nothing more than their blue dresses and provided no protection, often found themselves in the midst of fire. “Both base camps I lived in received mortar rocket attacks at night.  We would run to the bunkers near our living quarters. But mainly we felt that the military would keep us safe,” she says. 

In general, despite the dangers and losses she witnessed, Betsy talks about her time in Vietnam with gratitude and pride. “We all wanted to do something for our country and for the men who did not have a choice about going or not. Also, being in college in the 60s with all the anti-war protests going on, we all wanted to find a way to give back,” she says. 

Once Betsy returned home after her year away, she continued to stay connected to the work that had changed her life. She has been an active member of the American Red Cross Overseas Association (ARCOA) since the early 1970s, including serving as President from 2020 to 2024 and now currently as editor of the organization’s newsletter, The Oversea’r. She says she is proud to serve those, like her, who gave parts of their lives to working overseas for the American Red Cross. The experience, she says, has allowed her to continue to connect with other Donut Dollies, a time in her life that has stayed with her. 

“For most of us, it (being Donut Dollies) was the most rewarding thing we’ve ever done in our lives. We felt that we made a difference,” she says. “Most of the people I’ve kept up with and still see at ARCOA conventions are not the people I knew in Vietnam, but we’ve all been through the same experience and war, so immediately you kind of understand what kind person that is and what their values are.” 

Betsy will speak at the annual Veterans Day Observance at The Wall in Washington, D.C., on November 11. More information about the event, including more information about Betsy, can be found at https://www.vvmf.org/veteransday2025/. A livestream of the event, which starts at 1 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), can be found at https://www.vvmf.org/live/.