Why the Red Cross charged in WWII

To the editor:

As a Red Cross volunteer, I recently approached the Chaffee VFW for a donation. I was informed by many World War II veterans that they did not support the Red Cross because during the war the Red Cross charged for coffee and doughnuts.

The Red Cross armed forces emergency services director said this is a story that surfaces whenever World War II veterans are asked to donate. But the story does not contain all the facts.

On May 20, 1942, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, in a letter to national Red Cross chairman Norman H. Davis, requested that food and lodging provided to troops be charged at least at cost even though the Red Cross was prepared to provide them at no cost. This policy led to many complaints about Red Cross policies from returning servicemen and began to have an adverse effect on the agency's ability to raise funds.

The problem was eventually brought to the attention of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, at that time U.S. Army chief of staff. In April 1946 he released a statement that said, in part, that "this particular Red Cross policy was adopted at the request of the Army, so as to ensure an equitable distribution among all service personnel of Red Cross resources." At the time, Eisenhower noted, U.S. military personnel received higher pay than Allied soldiers and sailors.

As with all myths, the truth has little effect on dispelling them. This is an attempt to set the record straight.

JOHN V. HALTER, American Red Cross Volunteer, Chaffee, Mo.