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BROOKFIELD — It was 50 years ago today that Brookfield lost one of its own in Vietnam.
But Virginia “Ginny’ Kirsch was not in the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines. Ginny was stabbed to death while volunteering as a “Donut Dollie” for the American Red Cross.
Ginny, a 1966 graduate of Brookfield High School, was 21 and had just graduated from Miami University of Ohio that spring.
For a brief period, she taught English and religion at Badin Senior High School in Hamilton, Ohio. In July 1970, Ginny attended Red Cross training classes in Washington D.C. and arrived in Vietnam about two weeks later. After a brief period of orientation in Saigon, she was ordered to report to the Red Cross at Cu Chi, not far from Saigon (now Ho Chi Mihn City).
The Red Cross “Dollie” program sent teams of young women to Vietnam to operate Red Cross Recreation Centers and to conduct audience-participation programs for men stationed in various sections of the country. They also provided donuts and other snacks to the soldiers.
Read MORE in Sunday’s TRIBUNE CHRONICLE.