In our tenth installment of Memorabilia Monday, we are honored to share another piece of memorabilia from the personal archive of Donut Dollie Emily Strange (July 23, 1946 – July 12, 2016). Emily served from 1968 – 69 with the 9th Infantry Division and Mobile Riverine Force in Vietnam.
You can see more of Emily’s materials throughout the bonus features included with the purchase of the Donut Dollies documentary. You can learn more about the Donut Dollies and how to purchase the Donut Dollies documentary at www.donutdollies.com
This is a Safe-conduct pass that was airdropped over enemy territory as a means to encourage defection of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers to the South Vietnamese and allied forces. As you’ll see, the front and back of this item note “Safe-conduct pass to be honored by all Vietnamese government agencies and allied forces.” The front features the flag of South Vietnam and is surrounded by the flags of the allied force members, including the United States of America, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand.
We are so thankful to Emily Strange’s sister, Peggy Michel, for having the foresight to keep Emily’s Donut Dollie archive and for sharing these materials with us. This collection included photos, slides, training materials, personal writings, poems, and audio recordings. We look forward to sharing more of Emily’s memorabilia to help tell the story of the Donut Dollie’s service in Vietnam.
PLEASE NOTE: THERE ARE 9 PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF OUR MEMORABILIA MONDAY FEATURE AND 65 EDITIONS OF THE DONUT DOLLIE DETAIL THAT CAN BE SEEN HERE, JUST SCROLL DOWN TO READ EACH (AT THE BOTTOM, YOU’LL SEE A LINK TO GO TO THE NEXT PAGE OF DONUT DOLLIE DETAIL FEATURES)
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We called these “Chieu Hoi” pamphlets. I was on several Caribou flights where these were dropped by the hundreds over the countryside to influence the South Vietnamese population—civilians and military. Since many/most of the people couldn’t read, the pictures were important to convey the message and to “win the hearts and minds of the people”. This was in 1968-69 during the 5 months when I was assigned to the Cam Ranh Bay AFB.