Photograph of Helen Laggis in Red Cross uniform. Photo is taken in black and white. She is in a seated positon, sitting in a wooden chair. Her left arm is resting on the arm rest and she is holding her right hand in her left. She has a head peice on which is all white with the Red Cross symbol on the forehead. Her uniform is floor length and all white with the Red Cross symbole on right under the neckline and some type of patch on the pocket on her right breast. She is also wearing what appears to be a cross necklace as well as a bracellet on each arm and two rings on her left hand.

Photograph of donors aunt, Helen Laggis. She was a Red Cross volunteer during WWI, in Minneapolis MN.

Europe was thrown into conflict in June 1914. At the beginning of the war, the American Red Cross was a small organization still in the process of developing its identity and programs. When the United States declared war against Germany on April 6, 1917, the organization began a period of extraordinary growth. By the time the war ended in November 1918, the Red Cross had become a major national humanitarian organization with strong leadership, a huge membership base, universal recognition, and a broad and distinguished record of service.

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