It All Started With A Television Ad: Meet Bernita Gallego Barfield

1971 Christmas photo taken in Cam Rahn Bay, Vietnam. Pictured from L to R: Richard Moore, Bernita Gallego Barfield, Guy Sunny as Santa, Piji White and Sharon Rose. A television ad made all the difference for Bernita Barfield. It was the summer of 1967 and the U.S. had significantly increased its military presence in Southeast Asia because of the Vietnam War. Major U.S. cities were embroiled in race riots, anti-war protests, and widespread poverty–especially in Detroit where Bernita lived and worked at the time. After being ordered to stay home from her advertising job in response to the growing violence in Detroit, Bernita came across an ad on her television calling on viewers to join the American Red Cross and work on military installations across the country and around the world. Yearning for a deeper purpose in her life and wanting to make a difference during those troubling times, Bernita answered the call and became a Red Cross Assistant Field Director. Serving on military installations at home and abroad, she provided social services such as financial assistance and facilitated communications between soldiers and their loved ones. As the war intensified, Bernita wanted to expand her impact beyond national borders and into Vietnam to support active-duty service members. She was assigned to Cam Ranh Bay in 1971, a major Army installation in Vietnam. She recalls Christmas Day in 1971, aboard an Air Force Caribou, painted on the outside like Santa Claus and decorated on t...
Source: Red Cross Chat - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: History Military Support Air Force american red cross SAF service to the armed forces Vietnam veterans Source Type: news