America's Military and The American Red Cross Partnership

The American Red Cross has a long history of providing service to America's military in times of war. Beginning in the mid-1800s the organization's founder, Clara Barton, risked her life on the battlefields of the Civil War to tend to fallen soldiers. Clara Barton later led a contingent of nurses to Cuba during the Spanish-American War of 1898. Their heroic service prompted a Congressional Charter requiring the American Red Cross to conduct emergency communication services for armed forces personnel.

Spanish-American War. The Spanish-American War of 1898 was the first time the American Red Cross provided services to American armed forces at war. When the United States declared war on Spain, American Red Cross President Clara Barton, at age 76, traveled to hospitals recruiting nurses to work for the Army at medical camps in Florida and Cuba. Clara Barton, along with Red Cross nurses, went to Cuba to provide nursing care, medical supplies, food and other necessities to American service members. The American Red Cross also provided a non-medical service for the armed forces--carrying on a limited communications service which handled inquiries from families. These American Red Cross efforts to relieve suffering did not go unnoticed. In 1900, the U.S. Congress granted the American Red Cross a charter, making the volunteer organization responsible for providing communication services to members of the U.S. Armed Forces.

World War I. On the brink of war with Germany in 1916, the Surgeon General asked that the American Red Cross organize 50 base hospitals in France and elsewhere. When the U.S. went to war in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson appointed a War Council to run the Red Cross. As the war continued, American Red Cross volunteers and paid workers provided medical and recreational services for the military at home and abroad. They also pioneered the development of psychiatric nursing programs at veterans' hospitals, made artificial limbs and helped rehabilitate amputees and blinded veterans. Eighteen thousand American Red Cross nurses provided much of the medical care for the American military during World War I, and 4,800 Red Cross ambulance drivers, including Walt Disney and Ernest Hemingway, provided first aid on the front lines. The American Red Cross established 22 front-line canteens in Europe, serving drinks, food, and encouragement to passing troops, to ambulance and truck drivers, and to wounded service members who lay on stretchers outside operating rooms. In France alone, Red Cross canteens served over 15 million mobile troops and 92,000 wounded. During World War I, 296 American Red Cross nurses and 127 American Red Cross ambulance drivers died in service to humanity.

World War II. When the U.S. entered World War II in 1941, America once again turned to the Red Cross to support troops overseas and at home. The Red Cross responded, and expanded its services. More than 104,000 registered nurses recruited by the American Red Cross served in military hospitals at home and overseas. The only organization authorized by the U.S. government to provide canteens on military posts, the American Red Cross again offered a comforting oasis for troops and support personnel. Red Cross volunteers and paid workers also provided emergency message services, as required by the American Red Cross' congressional charter. Twenty-seven million American Red Cross packages were distributed to American and Allied prisoners of war, providing life-sustaining supplemental rations. During World War II, the American Red Cross provided social workers and recreation specialists to ease the discomfort of newly-drafted civilians. Clubs and clubmobiles operated in rest and recreation areas in the field and at military hospitals, hospital ships and hospital trains. In the years leading up to World War II, Dr. Charles Drew found a way to dry blood plasma, extending its useful life from days to weeks and making it possible to ship massive amounts of plasma to military in desperate need overseas. Organized at the request of the Surgeon General, the American Red Cross blood donor project added a new dimension to Red Cross services and collected 13.3 million units of blood for American servicemen. Seventy-eight Red Cross workers died while serving overseas during World War II.

Korean War. American Red Cross services grew during the Korean War. President Harry Truman established the Federal blood program in 1951, designating the Red Cross as the blood collecting agency for defense needs, and more than five million pints of blood were collected for the armed forces. At the request of General Douglas MacArthur, the Red Cross expanded its emergency mobile recreation service, serving not only American troops, but all United Nations forces. Eventually, there were 24 Red Cross canteen and clubmobile units serving Korea, including those at airfields and at a mobile surgical hospital. The American Red Cross provided emergency communication from family members about illnesses, deaths and births throughout the war, a free "first-call-home" program for those wounded in action and millions of envelopes and sheets of paper so wounded service members could write letters to home. A final end to hostilities in Korea occurred in 1953 and representatives from the American Red Cross and the Korean Red Cross ensured the smooth transfer of nearly 90,000 prisoners of war during "Operation Big Switch." Two Red Cross workers gave their lives in service to the American Red Cross during the Korean Conflict.

Vietnam. In 1962, the American Red Cross sent its first paid field staff to Vietnam to assist the growing number of service members at various bases and hospitals. At the height of its involvement in 1968, 480 American Red Cross field directors, hospital personnel and recreation assistants served throughout Southeast Asia. In response to a request by the military, American Red Cross clubmobile workers brought recreation to an average of 280,500 service members a month. They logged over two million miles in jeeps, trucks and helicopters during the program's seven-year history. American Red Cross workers shared the hardships and privations of war with the military. Five Red Cross staff members gave their lives. Many others were injured as they helped service members resolve personal problems or get home when emergency leave was granted due to death or serious illness in their immediate family. When Vietnam veterans returned to the United States, American Red Cross employees and volunteers concentrated on helping them readjust to civilian life, often assisting them with paperwork connected with their benefits.

Bay of Pigs Invasion. The American Red Cross and the Cuban Red Cross joined efforts in 1963 to help the Cuban Families Committee arrange the release of 751 Cuban exiles and their families following the aborted Bay of Pigs invasion. Following their release, American Red Cross volunteers distributed comfort items to the former prisoners, staffed canteens, assisted with transportation and temporary housing arrangements and rendered nursing services.

Persian Gulf War (Operation Desert Shield/Storm). Five days after the launch of Operation Desert Shield in August 1990, the first American Red Cross workers arrived in the Persian Gulf region. During the next year, 158 American Red Cross Armed Forces Emergency Services workers provided humanitarian assistance and faced the danger of war with the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces. Red Cross staff carried 215,000 emergency messages to and from the troops and provided comfort and support. Back home, American Red Cross workers aided more than 4,700 service members and their families with $1.72 million in emergency financial assistance and other services. In fulfilling their duties in the Persian Gulf region, seven American Red Cross workers received the Bronze Star for meritorious service.

Operation Restore Hope in Somalia. American Red Cross Armed Forces Emergency Services workers were deployed to Somalia in January 1993. Living and working in the same rustic conditions and dangerous environment as U.S. troops, eight American Red Cross staff members relayed more than 3,000 emergency messages relating to the death, critical illness or birth of a family member.

Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti. During the 1994 conflict, 17 American Red Cross workers were ultimately deployed to live and work alongside U.S. Armed Forces. More than 2,300 service members and their families received emergency assistance. The American Red Cross provided greeting cards to troops, which could be sent back home to families and friends. Other items such as videos, playing cards and books were collected and distributed.

Operation Joint Endeavor/Joint Guard/Force. In 1995, 1996 and 1997, American Red Cross workers provided humanitarian assistance to U.S. service members deployed in Bosnia, Croatia and Hungary. In 1996, nine American Red Cross workers began conducting emergency communication and other morale boosting activities for U.S. troops; within a year more than 9,500 emergency messages had been relayed. Red Cross workers also visited troops in hospitals, sharing books, playing cards, videos and other comfort items received from American Red Cross units around the world. At the end of 1996, the American Red Cross collected and distributed more than 2,000 gift packages to service members separated from their families during the holiday season.

Today, Red Cross Armed Forces Emergency Services workers accompany approximately 25,000 U.S. service members on overseas deployments in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Kosovo, and Bosnia. When United States military personnel are deployed, Red Cross workers are by their side providing emergency messages and a caring presence to service men and women separated from their families.