European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 12, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday. November 12. 1993 veterans Day the stars and stripes Page 3 i " i doughnut dollies by Cindy Killio Washington Bureau Washington some came with children and some with husbands. Some Dame alone and some with friends. The came from California Florida and Maine. But they All came with numbs still lodged in place like Chu Lai Nha Trang Danang and Saigon. And they merged at the headquarter Sof the United service organizations in downtown Washington on wednesday evening to Mark their place among War veterans. They were a part of the first Ever reunion of the Vietnam doughnut dollies the women who served in the Uso in Southeast Asia the reunion was needed said Organ Izer sue Brown of the Uso Headquarters especially in Light of dedication of the Vietnam women s memorial in the nation s capital thursday. Brown said the women who worked inthe Uso facilities Are overlooked even More than the nurses administrative workers air traffic controllers and others who wore military uniforms. When we think of the Uso we think of entertainers but we forget about the others who were there Day in and Day out they experienced the same things As any other Vietnam  Barbara Mcdonald Overman of Virginia Beach a. She said she came to the  that part of her life had been up on a shelf for nearly three decades. There Are a lot of things she had thought about in a Long time she said so tonight i m really excited to see peo ple again who were  she said she arrived in Vietnam on june 16, 1966, As a 19-year-old Patriot looking for  she got her wish. I was the eighth american woman to be women Tope memories of wartime Uso Washington is the memories of the women who worked in Uso facilities i Vietnam from 1964 through 1972 Are now on videotape. We wanted to make a historical record said sue Brown a spokeswoman for the unite service organizations. So we set up a video camera during the reunion and the women just started  in the late 1970s, a fire destroyed Many Uso photos and personnel records a history that the organization wanted to recreate. Organization officials also wanted to capture the thoughts and feelings of the women 20years after the War Send. She said the armed forces radio and television service plans to make a special from the tapes to redistributed stateside and overseas. No production Date has been set. . In country she said. In the year i was there i worked in Saigon and qui  she said she had always loved a Chal legend liked things that were  i loved the people the bicycles the houses she said. And i used to go put walking even though we were always told it was dangerous. For me those Early Days seemed More like a movie that i was watching it was hard to understand that it was real. But then i started to see men  fellow Uso Veteran Carol summation interrupted. Sitting beside a Model of the new Vietnam women s memorial president Clinton on thursday signs a Bill increasing the Cost of living allowance for disabled veterans. Real i spent a year in Danang and this Guy was really Young so i just said they blew the roof off the Uso club not Hon i Don t want to burst your Bubble once but twice she said. Then she told of her first experience with enemy artillery. It was my second night  of us were sitting on the roof having a few drinks. 1 looked out and saw what thought was an electrical storm moving in so 1 commented that it was going to rain. The people i was with looked at me kind of funny and one of them said rain Carol that s incoming " sum Matica recently talked to a reporter from her Hometown of Pensacola. Fla., and she said he implied that the Uso girls were always Safe in Vietnam and really did t see  but yeah we saw and experienced a lot " another Uso Veteran who asked notto be identified said she was heading for the Wall meaning the Vietnam Veter ans memorial to give my Guy a birthday  he s been missing in action for 23years, but today is his birthday and every year i veg Iven him a card she said. She said that since the memorial was built she has driven to Washington from Maine to deliver it in person. But this year is More emotional. There Are a lot of memories. These next three Days Are going to be really  solemn remembrances Mark Day when world War i guns fell silent Paris a before a dwindling contingent of survivors the nations that lost millions of soldiers in world War i marked the 75th anniversary thursday of the armistice that Suen cd the guns and ended the carnage. From a visit by French prime minister edouard Ballad or to armistice gearing France the spot where the truce was signed to Wreath laying outside Washington d.c.,and elsewhere ceremonies were somber and subdued few veterans were expected to attend the ceremonies marking armistice Day now wiled veterans Day in the United states. Of the tens of millions of world War i sol Diers perhaps 10,000 Are still alive. The youngest Are in their 90s.american veterans groups said no trips to former Battle Fields in France were organized for former doughboy few of whom could withstand the Rigours of a trans Atlantic flight. .-., " _ Church Bells pealed across Paris As president Francois Mitterrand Knelt and Laid a Wreath at the arc Detriomphe where France s unknown Soldier is buried at the symbolic hour of 11 . When fighting stopped on nov. 11 1918across the English Channel Queen Mother Elizabeth based through a Field of tiny crosses at Westminster Abbey erected every year in memory of the War dead. She wore Black and chatted with a few veterans some More . Of Kalt King Albert ii of Belgium visited the Tomb of the unknown Soldier in Brussels.  Clinton Laid a Wreath at the Tomb of the unknowns in Arlington National cemetery on thursday Australia prime minister Paul Keating served As a when you talk to Young people half of them Don t know what this is about they think if a a work Holiday Jean Michel Normand Somme France one of world War i s bloodiest Battle  ceremonies were conducted in towns and Vil Lages across the United states Canada and Europe where most locales have Stone markers listing sons lost. Former . Sgt. 1st class Julius Winter who worked Ongen. John j. Pershing s staff and made France his Home after the War did t attend any of the services. The Only thing i can think of is that so Many of these people died for nothing said Winter a Chicago native. He married a frenchwoman in 1919. Their son was killed fighting in the French resistance in world War ii. Jean Michel Normand 67, one of several thousands Lin ing the champs Elysee in Paris As a cavalry Honor guard trooped by lamented that a War in which More than 12 Mil lion people died is being forgotten. When you talk to Young people half of them Don know what this is about he said. They think it s a work  was at the Lith hour of the Lith Day of the Lith month that the machine guns and artillery fell quiet on the West pm  armistice signed Early nov. 11 in a Railroad car by Allied and German negotiators put an end to a War that began four years earlier. Veterans planning drive to urge City to restore Holiday Philadelphia up veterans groupware fighting mad about Philadelphia s decision to eliminate veterans Day As a paid Holiday for Cit workers in 1994. The United veterans Council of Philadelphia has collected thousands of signatures in a Campaign to persuade the City to restore the  Vietnam veterans of America has voted to take sanctions against the City and James Bell a former Navy aviator arid prisoner of War in Vietnam said he s prepared Tourge the naval Academy to Stop playing the army Navy football game in  Veteran Richard Montgomery said As a Veteran and resident of Philadelphia i embarrassed and  veterans Day fell victim to the negotiating process Between the City and labor unions who agreed to reduce the number of paid holidays for City workers from 14 to 10. David Cohen the top aide to mayor Edwa Drendell said the City offered to eliminate Flag Day Lincoln s birthday Good Friday and elec Tion Day As paid holidays. But he said Union negotiators insisted on substituting veterans Day for Good Friday. But vets like Montgomery Aren t buying that explanation. I think veterans Day is among the most appropriate of our National holidays right up there with memorial Day and the fourth of july he said