I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2081
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to members of the Red Cross Supple-
mental Recreational Activities Overseas (SRAO) program, also known
as the ‘‘Donut Dollies’’, who served honorably during the Vietnam con-
flict.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH11, 2025
Ms. S
HERRILL(for herself, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. CON-
NOLLY, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. CARSON, Ms. SALINAS, and Mr. HARRISof
Maryland) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on House
Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak-
er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
risdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to members of the
Red Cross Supplemental Recreational Activities Overseas
(SRAO) program, also known as the ‘‘Donut Dollies’’,
who served honorably during the Vietnam conflict.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as ‘‘Donut Dollies Congres-4
sional Gold Medal Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
The Congress finds the following: 2
(1) The Vietnam War, (1954–1975), a conflict 3
that pitted the communist Government of North 4
Vietnam and its allies in South Vietnam, known as 5
the Viet Cong, against the Government of South 6
Vietnam, involved thousands of U.S. servicemembers 7
and volunteers over its course. U.S. military advis-8
ers, present in small numbers throughout the 1950s, 9
were introduced on a large scale beginning in 1961, 10
and active combat units were introduced in 1965. As 11
early as February 1962, the number of American 12
military forces in Vietnam warranted the assignment 13
of American Red Cross field directors. 14
(2) Women were not subject to the Vietnam-era 15
draft, but thousands volunteered. The first American 16
Red Cross Field Directors were sent to South Viet-17
nam in February 1962. The last Red Cross staff 18
members to serve in-country departed in March 19
1973. Official records indicate that a total of 1,120 20
women served with the Red Cross in Vietnam during 21
that 11-year period. Of that number, 627 were 22
young women who were part of the organization’s 23
Supplemental Recreation Activities Overseas 24
(SRAO) program. 25
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(3) Based on Red Cross estimates, around 1
280,500 servicemen took part in these recreation 2
programs and the women, affectionately known as 3
‘‘Donut Dollies’’, traveled 27,000 miles by jeep, 4
truck, airplane, and helicopter every month. Red 5
Cross officials estimate that, during the seven years 6
the program was in operation, the women logged 7
over 2,125,000 miles. The first SRAO unit opened 8
at Danang in September 1965. Others quickly fol-9
lowed at Bien Hoa, Nha Trang, Cam Ranh Air 10
Force and Army bases, Dian, Quang Tri, Phu Bai, 11
Lai Khe, Dong Tam, Qui Nhon, Xuan Loc, and 12
more. In all, there were 28 SRAO unit locations 13
throughout the country. 14
(4) Military commanders expressed high praise 15
for the Red Cross volunteers, calling the services of 16
the organization ‘‘indispensable’’ and ‘‘prime fac-17
tors’’ in their efforts to maintain the high morale of 18
their men and to look after their welfare. Writing to 19
Red Cross national headquarters in 1968, General 20
William Westmoreland, then commander of the U.S. 21
forces in Southeast Asia, stated, ‘‘Serving our men 22
on the battlefields here in Vietnam, the American 23
Red Cross is a hotline to the folks back home, an 24
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oasis in the heat of battle, and a comfort during 1
hospitalization.’’. 2
(5) These Red Cross volunteers shared with 3
military personnel the hardship and privation of life 4
in a war zone and were subject to the dangers of 5
war. Many staff were injured. Five American Red 6
Cross workers died in-country. Three of those were 7
women, Hanna E. Crews, Virginia E. Kirsch, and 8
Lucinda J. Richter, all of whom were members of 9
the SRAO program. 10
(6) The Donut Dollies volunteered to be sent to 11
the frontlines to support servicemembers directly en-12
gaged with the enemy during the Vietnam conflict. 13
The extraordinary efforts of these volunteers 14
throughout the extent of America’s involvement in 15
the Vietnam conflict is deserving of official recogni-16
tion. 17
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 18
(a) P
RESENTATIONAUTHORIZATION.—The Speaker 19
of the House of Representatives and the President pro 20
tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrange-21
ments for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of 22
a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration to 23
members of the Red Cross Supplemental Recreational Ac-24
tivities Overseas (SRAO) program, also known as the 25
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‘‘Donut Dollies’’, who served honorably during the Viet-1
nam conflict. 2
(b) D
ESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For the purposes of the 3
award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 4
Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec-5
retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 6
devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec-7
retary. 8
(c) S
MITHSONIANINSTITUTION.— 9
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Following the award of the 10
gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 11
shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 12
it shall be available for display as appropriate and 13
made available for research. 14
(2) S
ENSE OF CONGRESS .—It is the sense of 15
Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 16
make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 17
available for display elsewhere, particularly at other 18
appropriate locations associated with the ‘‘Donut 19
Dollies’’. 20
(d) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of the 21
Congress that the United States Mint should expedite pro-22
duction of the gold medal under this Act, so that the serv-23
ice and sacrifice of ‘‘Donut Dollies’’ volunteers can be rec-24
ognized and honored in a timely manner. 25
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SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 1
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 2
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3, at 3
a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 4
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 5
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 6
(a) N
ATIONALMEDALS.—The medals struck pursu-7
ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 8
51 of title 31, United States Code. 9
(b) N
UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of sections 10
5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 11
struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 12
items. 13
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 14
SALE. 15
(a) A
UTHORITYTOUSEFUNDAMOUNTS.—There is 16
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 17
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-18
essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 19
this Act. 20
(b) P
ROCEEDS OFSALE.—Amounts received from the 21
sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 22
4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 23
Enterprise Fund. 24
Æ
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