A group of courageous American women voluntarily embarked on a remarkable and innovative mission during World War II, delivering coffee, doughnuts, and morale-building camaraderie to war-weary servicemen overseas, as part of the American Red Cross’ Clubmobile Service.

Drawing from his book Forged in Fire: Grief, Purpose, and Devotion of a Woman at War, author and retired attorney Robert Gangwere discusses the history of this initiative through firsthand accounts of the women who served. Interview subjects include his mother Blanche Gregory Barnes, a Kansas Citian whose life was forever altered by her war experience as a Clubmobile volunteer.

From the airfields of England to the war-torn landscapes of France and Germany, Barnes and the other Clubmobile ladies bore witness to the harsh realities of war on the front lines and were a lifeline for thousands of servicemembers.

Gangwere is an active historian and genealogist. He spent decades interviewing his mother about, and researching her service in, the Clubmobile Service program of the American Red Cross.