• It’s Donut Day!
- deansimpson7
- Jun 6
- 2 min read
Today is International Donut Day! You may ask yourself, what do the Salvos have to do with donuts?
If you live in Australia, you might not think much of it. However, if you’re an American, there’s a bit of history tied to it.
Young American women who were members of The Salvation Army were sent to Europe to support Allied forces/soldiers during World War One, and they became known for cooking donuts for the troops.
At one stage, they had seven fully equipped huts, each turning out 2000 donuts a day for hungry GIs.
Choosing to dish out donuts was as much an accident as an inspired choice. One firsthand reminiscence reads as follows:
“[We] were out walking one Sunday afternoon. We had served coffee to the men, our supplies for other things had run out, and we were feeling terrible because we knew these fellows would like something else to eat.
“Finally, I said, ‘I'll go to the commissary in the morning and see what supplies they have that they will be able to sell to us,’ which I did.
“... the only supplies we could purchase were flour, sugar, lard, baking powder, cinnamon, and canned milk. The only thing we could possibly make with those ingredients were pancakes or donuts.
“Pancakes wouldn’t be good cold, so we decided to make donuts. We needed eggs, but if you eat the donuts right away, even without eggs, they taste all right ...”
– Barry Gittins
Click through the slideshow below for more images of The Salvation Army supporting troops during World War One:
