Over the next few months we will have in-person screenings of the Donut Dollies Documentary around the country. We would like to know if any Donut Dollies would be interested in attending any of the following screenings:
Beaufort, SC – Saturday, Feb. 26th @ 2 PM
Madison, WI – Saturday, Feb. 26th (time TBD)
Tampa, FL – Friday, May 27th, 2:30 PM & Saturday, May 28th, 10:00 AM
Attendance is limited, but if you live near to these events and would like to come, please email Jim Gardner at jim@donutdollies.com – more details will be provided by email. If you are unable to attend, but know a Donut Dollie who may be interested in attending, we ask you to share this information with them.
Easthampton, Mass. (February 1, 2022) – For Women’s History Month this March, Right Hand Man Productions is proud to announce the streaming and DVD release of their award-winning film, “The Donut Dollies.” This documentary tells the story of 627 college graduate women who, through a sense of patriotism and inquisitiveness about the truth of the Vietnam War, chose to volunteer through a Red Cross program called Supplemental Recreation Activities Overseas (SRAO). Their mission was to boost morale and provide a sense of hope and support to our troops. They were affectionately known as Donut Dollies, a nickname handed down father to son by those who served during World War II and the Korean War.
This documentary features two best friends who joined this program and follows them on their return to Vietnam for the first time in 46 years. The film presents memories from over a dozen women and veterans who served during the Vietnam War, along with hundreds of archival photos and vintage 8mm film. Alternatingly heartbreaking and hilarious, this “buddy film“ features Donut Dollies Dorset Hoogland Anderson of Cummington, MA and her best friend Mary Blanchard Bowe (deceased 2021) of Schertz, TX as they travel to the locations of the former military bases they lived on, hoping to access the sites and unlock long forgotten memories.
Many of the women who served in this program chose to hide the true stories of their experiences in Vietnam from their families and friends following their return home. Some for decades after. During their year in-country, Donut Dollies experienced the horrors of the Vietnam War just like our servicemen, including the danger of incoming fire on base and in flight while visiting men on frontline firebases. As their service was in a civilian capacity, the Donut Dollies were not eligible for Veterans Administration benefits, and many struggled years later with the effects of Agent Orange exposure and PTSD. During the seven years of the SRAO program in Vietnam (1965-72), three young women died in-country, one at the hands of a serviceman.
The origins of this film dates back almost 25 years, when the film’s director, Norm Anderson, first learned about his mother’s service as a Donut Dollie in Vietnam. He began to document her stories for his family through home movies, but as the stories deepened through meeting other women who served, he assembled a crew to film in Vietnam to tell the little known story of the Donut Dollies. Norm explains “This project began as a labor of love for my favorite Donut Dollie – my Mom (Dorset). But it grew into a mission to celebrate and preserve the stories of her 600+ Donut Dollie sisters, as well.”
“The Donut Dollies” won the award for Best Documentary Feature at the G.I. Film Festival and received nominations in Best Documentary (twice), Best Director Feature, Best Musical Score and People’s Choice categories at film festivals around the country. Both the online download/stream and the DVD feature 35-minutes of bonus materials including previously unseen interviews, memorabilia, photos and film footage, along with a nearly 15-minute photo montage depicting a few hundred Donut Dollies who served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
In conjunction with the release of the Donut Dollies Documentary, we are asking Donut Dollies who served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars to join us in celebrating Women’s History Month in March (and beyond). We’d like to offer two opportunities for you to share your story. One will be the sharing a photo of a piece of memorabilia from your service for inclusion in our new Memorabilia Mondays project and the other is our Donut Dollie Detail feature.
For Memorabilia Mondays, we’re seeking a photo of a piece of a Donut Dollie’s personal memorabilia and ask her to write a few sentences about the item, details of the years and bases she served on, the origin of the item, what it means to her and any other info she would like to share. ***See below for details on how best to capture the images***
The Donut Dollie Detail project is something we’re honored to have featured nearly 60 in-their-own-words stories by Donut Dollies. You can see previous editions at this link – www.donutdollies.com/category/donut-dollie-detail To take part we would ask you to provide answers to 10 questions (***see below***) along with 4 in-country photos which show important memories of your service, including a headshot, maybe a group photo of you and your Donut Dollie sisters and of programming or spending time with the men. ***See below for details on how best to capture the images***
Both of these projects are important for sharing the story of the Donut Dollies at a time when interest from the public and veterans is growing around the release of our documentary. We believe this will be a wonderful way to share the personal histories of Donut Dollies of both wars and we hope you’ll want to take part in one or both of these projects. If you have questions about anything, please feel free to contact us at memories@donutdollies.com. We thank you for your service and look forward to sharing a part of your story.
Photography suggestions for Memorabilia Mondays items:
Photos of the item itself will be fine, but to add a little personality or connection to the item, you may like to pose with the item, while also including close-up photo(s). For photographing the item, please place the item on a flat surface (like a table top) and use the flash on your smartphone. Feel free to send us 2 or 3 shots of the item, which will allow us to choose the best images.
Scanning/photography suggestions for the Donut Dollie Detail feature:
The best way to capture these photos is by scanning them at a resolution of 300dpi or higher, but if you don’t have access to a scanner, a smartphone image will be fine. The best way to take the photo is on a tabletop with overhead lighting, while avoiding shadows from the photo or yourself. You may also want to send versions of the photos taken with the flash on your smartphone to allow us to choose between flash and non-flash for the best version.
The Donut Dollie Detail 10-questions list:
What prompted you to join the SRAO (Supplemental Recreation Activities Overseas) program and want to go to Korea/Vietnam?
When and where were you stationed in Korea/Vietnam? Did you go by a nickname? How would you like your name listed in your feature?
What was a routine day like in Korea/Vietnam?
Did you ever have any “close calls” either on base or in any vehicles?
Were you ever injured while in Korea/Vietnam?
What was it like to visit the soldiers in the hospitals?
How was the transition returning home to the United States?
What would you like people to remember and understand most about the women who served?
How do you feel Veterans think of your time having served with them? Have any Veterans expressed their feelings to you directly?
What are your fondest or most interesting memories of your time serving in Korea/Vietnam?
The response to the release of the Donut Dollies Documentary has been very positive. Please remember that you’ll receive a $5 discount off your download purchase by January 15th, so don’t miss out. In addition to the 87-minute award-winning film, you’ll also have access to nearly 50-minutes of extras, including a photo album featuring hundreds of Donut Dollies who served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
Those who have seen our documentary say that it provides a deeper understanding of what the Donut Dollies experienced and provides a new insight into the Vietnam War, as well as some laughter and tears. You can make your purchase now at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/thedonutdollies
After making your purchase, you can help spread the word on the Donut Dollies by liking and commenting right on our Vimeo page, and through sharing via social media with family, friends, organizations or veterans you may know. Additionally, comments can be made on our website – www.donutdollies.com and on our Facebook page – www.facebook.com/thedonutdollies
With your help, we can share the little known story of the Donut Dollies and bring them into the spotlight of women’s history and our country’s history.
Gratefully,
Norm, Jess & Jim
P.S. – If you are a Donut Dollie who served during the Korean or Vietnam Wars, please email us at memories@donutdollies.com for a FREE download of the film
We’re excited to share the news that we’re officially starting to distribute The Donut Dollies far and wide. Starting today, the film is now available via DonutDollies.com and Vimeo.
To access the film, first click the “buy” button. You’ll then be prompted to join Vimeo (quick, free and necessary for security purposes). Then, enter your payment info to buy the film, and you’ll be able to download or stream the film and watch it any time you want.
Throughout our successful film festival run we continued our work to present a fuller picture of the Donut Dollie’s story by creating bonus materials. In addition to our award-winning 87-minute film, you will have access to over 35 minutes of featurettes, plus a 14 minute photo montage all from previously unseen interview footage, photos, film and memorabilia.
Please help us spread the word and tell the world about The Donut Dollies! You can easily help our film get recognized on Vimeo by clicking the heart button to add to our likes.
Please note: If you are a Donut Dollie, please contact us directly at memories@donutdollies.com for a FREE digital download of the film and all of the bonus features. This film is for you and we thank you for your service!
We’re also putting finishes touches on the DVD release, and will be sending those out early in the new year. If you’d like to buy a DVD, please contact us at list@donutdollies.com and we’ll contact you when the DVDs are available.
Thanks so much for your support and encouragement throughout this labor-of-love journey. It means the world to us.
With gratitude and warmest wishes for a healthy, happy holiday season for all,
At the October 28th screening of the Donut Dollies Documentary at the Red Rose Film Festival in Lancaster, PA, Donut Dollie Bobbi Lischak Trotter (Vietnam 1970-71) joined co-producer Jim Gardner for a Q&A session moderated by Scott Lentz. This discussion covered a lot of facets of the Donut Dollie’s story, including how a year in Vietnam impacted and provided a path leading to Bobbi’s service in the military.
We hope you enjoy this Q&A and we ask you to share it with family, friends and veterans who would be interested hearing the Donut Dollie’s story directly from one who served. We thank Bobbi for sharing her story, Scott for MC’ing the event and Ryan Shank and his team for including The Donut Dollies in their film festival.
You may remember our post from a couple weeks ago on the news article spotlighting veteran Jim Roberts’ 50 year attempt to identify two Donut Dollies who visited him at Dong Xoai, Vietnam in 1971 – (read here – bit.ly/WaPoDDArticlePt1). We’re happy to share that his quest to identify the 2 women in the photos he took that day has a happy ending, as he was finally able to virtually meet the two Donut Dollies he met long ago. You can read this heartfelt story by following the link below. We thank Manuel Roig Franzia of the Washington Post for sharing this story.
This article came be viewed by following the link below:
We’d like to share this interesting article written by Manuel Roig Franzia for the Washington Post. We know that there’s numerous stories like this and we hope that the goal of reconnection can happen. Or at least their names are learned and these women can be personally honored for what they did in this specific moment to bring a sense of home to these servicemen.
This article came be viewed by following the link below:
The Donut Dollies Documentary will be taking part in a special virtual, online showcase of four veteran-related films. The showcase is titled “Walk With Us: Stories of War and Connection” and will take place November 9th – 16th at https://watch.showandtell.film/watch/walkwithus. The Donut Dollies Documentary will be taking part in a special virtual, online showcase of four veteran-related films. The showcase is titled “Walk With Us: Stories of War and Connection” and will take place November 9th – 16th at https://watch.showandtell.film/watch/walkwithus
This showcase will feature 10-minutes of scenes from the “Donut Dollies Documentary”, as well as “Dog Walk Home” – a story of three veteran families who take in highly-trained service dogs who help them with the struggles of PTSD; “Walk With Frank” – a story of a Vietnam veteran who was injured in-country and challenged by the ensuing personal struggles, who found art to be the way to make his path in life; and “Jimmy In Saigon” – the story of a man who lost his Vietnam veteran brother who died mysteriously in Saigon after his service and the search for the truth.
We’re honored to be part of this showcase, which will bring attention to each of these films, as well as providing much needed fundraising to be put towards completion funds. In addition to the 10-minutes of scenes from each film, there will be an introductory video and for our film, you’ll hear from the members of our team who are proud to be part of our labor of love project by bringing the Donut Dollie’s story to light.
Following the showcase on Tuesday, November 16th at 5 PM (Pacific), there will be a Zoom Q&A with all of the films’ directors moderated by Vietnam veteran, award-winning author and friend, Doug Bradley. Follow the link for more details on each film. We hope you’ll join us for this showcase
For those around the country who were not able to watch the live interview on WWLP’s Mass Appeal show, we’re sharing the link with you to watch it. Mass Appeal co-host Patrick Berry interviewed Donut Dollie Dorset Anderson (in her Donut Dollie uniform) and her son, Norm Anderson, the director of the Donut Dollies Documentary.
Some of the topics they spoke about include: why Dorset decided to join the Red Cross SRAO program; how her best friend, Mary Blanchard Bowe were in the same training class, but were sent to different bases during the year they served; what the Donut Dollies did when they went to visit the men; why Norm decided to make this film about his mother and the Donut Dollie’s story; and how the name Donut Dollies came to be.
We’re glad to be able to share this interview with you and ask that you share it with family, friends and veterans to help spread the Donut Dollie’s story.
