Dad used to talk about the SA when they got back to Sterparone, the SA would be passing out coffee, donuts, and cigarettes to the crews. The Red Cross was SELLING it to the crews. My grandmother donated a couple of coats to a Red Cross clothing drive for Britain during the war, and stuck a little note with her name and address in the pocket, hoping she might get a response. Few months later she got a letter from England and the lady that wrote it basically said they were thankful for the Yanks help and they would have had a hard if they were not able to buy the coat from the RC. I used to give exclusively to the SA, now it looks like that has gone down the road.
