DS wrote:
J. Clarke wrote:
DS wrote:
If snopes is to be believed, the Red Cross only charged American
servicemen overseas. My father and stepmother both witnessed this
happening here in the US; returning vets being charged for coffee and
donuts by the red cross here on American soil. One at a red cross
sponsored dance in New York, the other at an airport in California.
I wasn't there, but they were, and I believe them. They both hold a
grudge against the red cross for this.

One would expect a dance in the US to be a fund-raiser, where everyone
in attendance is expected to do their part.

Tom Bunetta wrote:
Interesting reading indeed.
It's amazing how urban legends and myths come to have lives of their
own. Mis-information must be self propagating.
Tom

Perhaps, but if you're raising funds to comfort the troops, then the
money should come from ... the troops??? No. Not in my estimation.

My stepmother as a young woman was asked to volunteer at this dance in
order to "do something nice for the troops". She was assigned to SELL
them drinks and snacks. It didn't seem to her that she was doing
anything FOR them.

My father, at a west coast airport, watched as the red cross sold coffee
and donuts to soldiers - to GIs both returning and leaving for pacific
areas.

Like I said, I wasn't there. I'm relying on their experience, and that
there really doesn't seem to be a "rest of the story" here. At least not
one that justifies the behavior.

I have a friend (a Korea vet) that is spending his retirement as a red
cross volunteer. I know that he does good and necessary things with that
organization.
My point wasn't that I think the red cross is evil... Just that I know
two people that can personally discredit the snopes account of the era.

Nothing in their account does anything to discredit the Snopes account
-- it addressed overseas fixed-location facilities, not stateside
temporary set ups. And again, unless one has the information in detail
on the organization of the events, etc., one doesn't have "the rest of
the story", all one has is the perception of an attendee or bystander.

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