Let's face it. Military history would not be complete without a discussion about Doughnuts.
During World War One, the Salvation Army sent approximately 200 women volunteers to France
to provide snacks, supplies and morale to those homesick US troops
The “Doughnut Lassies”, as they were called, dodged bombs, gas attacks,
and risked their lives to fry up doughnuts for the Doughboys fighting in the trenches.
In World War Two, American Red Cross "Donut Dollies" landed on the beaches of Normandy
in their Clubmobiles to serve up coffee and donuts to our GIs.
While donuts and coffee may seem to be a small act,
it made a huge impact upon those young soldiers fighting on the Front Line.
I'm your host, Bruce Wittman, and this is the incredible, sweet story of doughnuts in the battlefield
Next on Marking History!
This is the historical marker for American Captain Hanson Gregory,
the famous sea captain who invented the hole in the doughnut.
His marker is located here in Rockport, Maine where he was born.
Previously, ship doughnuts cooked well on the edges, but raw in the middle.
According to legend, Gregory used the top of a tin pepper box to cut a circle out of the doughnut
to remove the center before frying.
No more indigestion or greasy sinkers! Just well-done, fried- through doughnuts.
During World War I, The Salvation Army established a mission
to provide for the needs of the U.S. soldiers fighting in France.
In 1917, several hundred Salvation Army women volunteers traveled overseas to set up service ‘huts'
located in abandoned buildings near the front lines where they could serve baked goods,
provide writing supplies and stamps, and offer a clothes- mending service to the soldiers in battle.
The women wanted to offer comfort to the soldiers with something that reminded them of home.
Salvation Army Captain Helen Purviance, and Ensign Margaret Sheldon had the idea
to bake cakes and pies for our Doughboys.
However, ovens became harder and harder to access the closer they got to the battlefield.
Helen considered making pancakes, but that would have required plates, butter, and molasses.
She decided that doughnuts would be quicker and easier to make and recruited Margaret's help.
The doughnut duo patted the first dough into shape by hand,
but soon employed juice bottles and spent artillery shell casings as rolling pins.
The sweet, taste-of-home treats Helen and Margaret were cranking out
were an instant hit with the American soldiers serving abroad.
The tempting aroma of frying doughnuts drew a lengthy line of soldiers to the hut.
They served 150 doughnuts that first day and doubled that 24 hours later.
When they ran out of frying pans, they used soldiers' combat helmets to cook the doughnuts.
Once they were fully equipped, Helen and Margaret are said to have fried from 2,500 to 9,000 doughnuts daily
as did other women volunteers along the front line trenches.
The doughnuts the Lassies made were simple and easily produced,
but they elicited strong feelings from the soldiers on the battlefield.
American soldiers found that the doughnut transported them magically back home,
where their thoughts were fixed on the things they were fighting for
gave them the courage to laugh in the trenches,
and to face bravely the purpose which had brought them to Europe.
Through these simple acts of comfort and service,
the doughnut became synonymous with easing the hardships of war,
so when the men returned to U.S. soil,
Salvation Army “Doughnut Girls” were there to welcome them home.
When the doughboys came back from the Great War,
they had a great desire for more doughnuts,
their comfort food - forged in battle.
Before long, the whole country was craving some delectable fried goodness.
The doughnut craze could never have been sustained were it not for the invention
of the automated donut machine by Russian refugee Adolph Levitt in 1920.
In New York City, Adolph Levitt had a difficult time keeping up with demand
for his fried doughnuts at Mayflower Bakery.
So Levitt created his “Wonderful Almost Human Automatic Donut Machine.”
At the height of the Great Depression, Adolph Levitt's machines earned him $25 million,
mostly from wholesale deliveries to bakers around the country.
At the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, donuts were advertised
as the “Hit Food of the Century of Progress” and became an instant hit at a nickel a piece.
They were touted as a symbol of American progress because they were made using a machine.
Donut dunking became very popular.
Say where did you learn to dunk? In finishing school?
Oh no don't you start telling me I shouldn't dunk. Of course you shouldn't. You don't know how to do it.
Dunking's an art. Don't let it soak so long. A tip and shot in your mouth.
If you let hang in there too long, it gets soft and falls off. It's all a matter of timing.
In response to this donut craze, The Salvation Army in Chicago created
“National Donut Day” in 1938.
It was originally started to raise funding to help care for the men and women struggling through the Great Depression.
It also was meant to honor military veterans, and commemorate the work of the “Doughnut Lassies."
Nowadays, every first Friday in June is National Donut day.
Many American donut stores offer free donuts on this occasion.
Once the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred on December 7, 1941,
the American Red Cross rapidly mobilized its Clubmobile program
to provide food, drink, newspapers and other items for soldiers.
It was a mobile service club.
The aim was to bring a taste of home to the frontlines.
The War Department decreed that the Red Cross
would be the only civilian service organization permitted to work with overseas military personnel.
Most clubmobiles were single decker English Green Line buses fitted with coffee and donut making equipment.
More importantly, each clubmobile carried American Red Cross women volunteers
who travelled throughout Great Britain and Europe between late 1942 until 1946.
Popularly referred to as “Donut Dollies” since one of their biggest tasks
was making and serving donuts to the servicemen,
These volunteers were the actual stars of the show.
They provided a little touch of home to many a homesick GI.
The Red Cross had very high standards for their female volunteers,
standards which were higher than those of the military.
Applicants had to be college graduates, at least 25 years of age, have stellar reference letters,
pass physical examinations and have an outstanding personality as demonstrated at personal interviews.
With the rigorous selection process only one in six applicants made the cut.
After the invasion of Normandy in June 1944, Clubmobiles were sent into France.
The U.S. Army landed around 80 Clubmobiles at Normandy that June.
They fanned out throughout Europe in the days and weeks after D-Day,
either working in the rear echelons or driving from military post to military post,
serving donuts and coffee to the soldiers there.
The Clubmobiles had everything they needed for their D-Day deployment,
including the donut and coffee-making gear.
The “Donut Dollies” had sleeping bunks in the truck, a mini- kitchen and a lounge area with a record player for the GIs.
Donuts dominated the activities of the Clubmobilers.
Next to the women themselves, the donuts and the coffee served with them
were among the GI's most beloved symbols of home and they became the trademark of the wartime Red Cross.
The military still embraces the sugary confection today, in war movies like Full Metal Jacket
Are you allowed to eat jelly donuts Private Pyle? Sir, no sir!
in Navy donut races
and female Air Force hairdos.
The next time you bite into a Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Donut,
remember those brave women who served doughnuts on the front lines,
giving soldiers a small taste of home-cooked heaven.
If history can be taught with stories, it can never be forgotten.
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