06 February 2013

The original Salvation Army Doughnut was first served during WWI, when Salvation Army "lassies" were sent to the front lines of Europe. These brave young women made home cooked foods, and provided a morale boost to the troops. Often, the doughnuts were cooked in oil inside the metal helmet of an American soldier. The American infantrymen were commonly called doughboys, and the Salvation Army lassies were the only women outside of military personnel allowed to visit the front lines.

Today, the doughnut is a humble reminder of our long tradition of serving others. A recently published book gives insight to the experience of the lassies and their impact on history.

"The Doughnut Sweethearts" is the original journal of one doughnut girl, Alice McAllister, who joined the 1st Division of the American Expeditionary Forces and was sworn into the U.S. Army as a private-the only way she could volunteer on the front lines of World War I.

With guitars in hand, Alice and her sister Violet McAllister performed for the troops, set broken bones and immunized for tetanus, but they became known for a simple luxury while at war-the doughnut.

"They made do with the simplest of supplies-a grape juice bottle for rolling pin, tin cans to cut the shape, a coffee percolator tube to make the hole. The day a line of 800 from the 26th Division lined up for the first 150 [doughnuts], they knew they had found their calling," Judy Vaughn wrote in The Bells of San Francisco.

"The Doughnut Sweethearts," a 4.25" by 7" booklet, is available from Amazon.com.