FURNESS was ringed with American army camps during the Second World War as the men trained and waited their turn to join the Normandy landings and the advance into Germany in 1944 and 1945.

Giving the young GIs a taste of home were groups of American Red Cross volunteers handing out hot drinks and snacks from a mobile canteen at the camps.

Among them was Elizabeth Richardson whose story features in the book Slinging Doughnuts for the Boys: An American Woman in World War II by James H. Madison.

The author is Thomas and Kathryn Miller Professor of History at Indiana University, Bloomington and details of the book were kindly provided by Jack Smith, of Lindal.

The author notes: “Elizabeth Richardson was a Red Cross volunteer who worked as a Clubmobile hostess during the Second World War.

“Handing out free doughtnuts, coffee, cigarettes and gum to American soldiers in England and France, she and her colleagues provided a touch of home – American girls with whom the boys could talk, flirt, dance and perhaps find companionship.”

Her letters and diaries provide a window into a world which is now fading from memory.

As a 25-year-old she passed her medical for the American Red Cross in March 1944 and started training in May.

The converted liner Queen Elizabeth brought her to England – sharing a cabin with seven other women.

She arrived in wartime Barrow to stay at the Imperial Hotel as part of the team for a Clubmobile called Kansas City – a cross between a bus and a truck which was kept in the Imperial Garage.

Huge supplies of coffee and doughnuts were prepared on the Clubmobile and taken out by the volunteers to American army camps in Furness – up to half-a-dozen in a day.

Among those visited was Dane Ghyll, near the modern Furness General Hospital

The author noted: “The crew often ate their meals at the mess in whatever camp they worked, so they had plenty of food.”

The helpers added water to a doughnut mix of flour, sugar, egg powder, skim milk powder and salt.

On December 11 in 1944 she noted in a letter to her parents that she would be working on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

She said: “I will be slinging doughnuts at homesick G.Is and there could be worse ways to spend Christmas Eve.”

Christmas Day breakfast was a real treat during wartime shortages – grapefruit.

In January 1945 she noted in her diary: “The Imperial is our most comfortable home so far.

“We each have a room and a small electric heater. The beds are heaven and the bath water hot.”

A letter on January 20 noted that the Clubmobile had no heating for its crew.

She wrote: “Yesterday we cleaned it and almost froze ourselves in the process.”

Barrow had its compensations and the following day she heard John Barbirolli conduct the Halle Orchestra.

She wrote: “The concert was in one of the local cinemas which was naturally without heat and everyone listened with their coats on.”

On the February 2 the Kansas City crew left Barrow for Warrington before a posting to support American troops in France.

She died, aged just 27, in a plane crash and is buried in the American Cemetery in Normandy.