Vietnam

In the early 1960s, as it had done during the Korean War, the American Red Cross sent paid field staff to Vietnam to assist the growing number of servicemen at various bases and hospitals. At the height of Red Cross involvement in Vietnam in l968, 480 field directors, hospital personnel, and recreation assistants served throughout Southeast Asia. Red Cross workers, who provided 1.9 million services to U.S. military personnel, shared the hardships and privations of war with the soldiers. Five Red Cross staff members gave their lives, and many others were injured as they helped servicemen resolve personal problems or get home when emergency leave was granted due to death or serious illness in the immediate family.

Da Nang, South Vietnam (1967)

Bound by its charter to provide welfare service to the able-bodied soldiers on duty, the American Red Cross engaged in efforts to sustain the morale of troops in Vietnam. In response to a request by the military, the American Red Cross sent teams of young female college graduates to Southeast Asia to conduct audience-participation recreation programs for men stationed in isolated sections of the region.

This photograph shows American Red Cross Clubmobile worker Margo Looney of Wichita, Kansas, conducting an audience-participation program for men of the 1st Marine Division at Da Nang in December l967. The Clubmobile workers visited units throughout the base camp area to help break the monotony for the hard-working servicemen. It is estimated that these workers, who traveled by jeep, truck, and helicopter, logged over 2,125,000 miles during the program's seven-year history.