National Doughnut Day began with the ‘Dough Boys’ of World War I

National Doughnut Day became official in 1938, but it really began 100 years ago this week when a group of Salvation Army volunteers traveled to France to treat American soldiers fighting in World War I to something a little more sweeter than military chow.

Margaret Sheldon and Helen Purvieance made the dough and cut circles using tin cans and fried the dough, sometimes in the soldiers’ helmets, using hot oil and sugar. The Salvation Army ladies were dubbed “Doughnut Lassies,” and their efforts in 1917 were officially recognized in 1938 and an unofficial holiday was born.

Many say World War I infantry units gained the moniker “Doughboys” because their brass buttons looked like flour dumplings, called doughboys at the time, but Salvation Army of Manatee County director of community relations and development Kelly French likes to believe otherwise.

“One of the nicknames of the soldiers was Doughboys, supposedly because they ate so many doughnuts,” French said.

French, along with Melissa Fernandez, volunteer special events coordinator, and Lt. Mike Chamberlain, assistant core officer and shelter chaplain, started their “doughnut hop” across Manatee County at Turner Donuts Friday morning, where lines began forming at 5 a.m.

Turner’s Donuts manager Yee Chau said National Doughnut Day is a big business day with about a 30 percent increase in sales. Turner’s typically runs low on doughnuts by noon, but the Friday rush saw the shop close to running out of product by 8:30 a.m. Employees in the back were scrambling to mix up more dough.

Chau said she was a little anxious to host a special event, knowing how busy the day would be, but she learned about how the unofficial holiday began and couldn’t resist.

“I couldn’t say no,” she said.

French said it was a special day with a special meaning for the Salvation Army.

“We like to observe it every year, but with this year being the 100th anniversary, we wanted to do something special so several of us have come to Turner’s Donuts and we’re all going to have a little doughnut breakfast this morning to celebrate. We just wanted to do something a little more special.”

Salvation Army members spread across the county to visit various doughnut shops and dozens more were purchased for meetings later in the day. But the doughnut frenzy wouldn’t stop there as members placed orders for dozens more the following day.

French said Saturday won’t be National Doughnut Day anymore, “But it’s close enough to have more doughnuts.”

This story was originally published June 2, 2017 at 11:55 AM with the headline "National Doughnut Day began with the ‘Dough Boys’ of World War I."