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Show For War Prisoner International Red Cross Aids, Helps to Locate War Prisoners v there has been long delay on the fiart of the Japanese government In forwarding lists of those captured in the Philippines. If after a reasonable time you have received no word of a man believed be-lieved captured, yen can ask your Eed Cross chapter to help you fill out an inquiry form and the Bed Cross will make every effort to obtain ob-tain a report. Each nation also agreed to provide pro-vide suitable prison quarters, with adequate heat and cooking facilities, and food similar to that given to its own soldiers in barracks, and to allow al-low the prisoners to write home and receive mail and parcels. War prisoners pris-oners are confined In camps, or compounds, usually surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards, in which they may move about comparatively com-paratively freely, but they may not be shut up, as in a Jail. Prisoners are allowed to send a limited number of letters or postcards, post-cards, depending not only on the country but the camp in which they are situated. Prisoners of war and civilian internees held by the United States, for example German, Italian, Ital-ian, and Japanese may send two letters and one postcard per week, and may receive an unlimited amount of incoming mail. Letters from German prison camps are sometimes received within two or three months, but obviously ob-viously mail from prisoners in the Far East must be expected to take much longer. Parcels Delivered. . It has also been possible to deliver weekly standard Red Cross food 'New' Clothes Instrumental in Obtaining Fair Treatment of All Internees. ' Perhaps you know a soldier or sailor who is a prisoner of war? Or perhaps you have been notified that he is missing miss-ing in action but have no official offi-cial word that he is a prisoner? pris-oner? In any case you want more information. You wjant to know about getting more news of him. You want to know if you can send a letter, or a parcel with warm clothes and some of those cookies he is so fond of. ' The best place to get that infor-matlon infor-matlon is through the Red Cross. Your nearest local Red Cross chapter chap-ter can tell you what you want to know. If possible go to the chapter yourself, rather than write. If you don't know where it is, or can't find it in the telephone directory, call the city hall, or any government govern-ment or municipal agency, and they will tell you. The Red Cross chapter will tell you exactly how to address a letter to the prisoner, or will help you fill In a message on a special form If he Is only listed as missing in action. ac-tion. They will tell you, too, about parcels. And they will explain what Is being done by the Red Cross and other agencies to make life as bearable bear-able as possible for him while he Is in enemy hands. The situation changes frequently, but you can always be, sure that if you go to the Red Cross chapter you will get the latest information on what you can do. International Committee. There is of course no direct contact con-tact between nations at war, but the American Red Cross can work through the International Red Cross committee in Geneva, Switzerland, which is recognized by everybody as strictly neutral, and has acted as go-between in wartime ever since it was founded for that purpose nearly 80 years ago. Under agreements made at Geneva Ge-neva before the war in 1929 to be exact the nations promised to give humane treatment to prisoners, and drew up a set of rules for use in time of war. Long before the present pres-ent war Germany and Italy were among those who agreed to abide by those rules, and In February, 1942, Japan announced that she would observe them. Each nation agreed to set up a central bureau for prisoners of war Information. The United States has set up a Prisoners of War Information Informa-tion bureau in the office of the provost pro-vost marshal general in the war department. The Japanese government govern-ment established its Central Prisoners Prison-ers bureau in Tokyo in December, 1941. Cabled to Geneva. Names of prisoners and civilian Internees are assembled by these bureaus, cabled to the International Red Cross committee's agency in Geneva, listed and filed for reference refer-ence in the committee's Central Agency for Prisoners of War, and What Is It? A Red Cross worker is shown assembling as-sembling a "prisoner of war pack-age" pack-age" of food and cigarettes. Preparing Pre-paring these packages Is only one of the many services performed by volunteer Red Cross canteen workers. work-ers. over $33,000 worth of drugs and medical supplies, $95,000 worth of blankets and toilet articles, and large quantities of underwear, shoes and other articles amounting to more than half a million items. Distribution of supplies to prisoners prison-ers in the Far East is being carried out by International Red Cross committee com-mittee delegates in Tokyo, Shanghai, Shang-hai, and Hong Kong, who will make every effort to see that part of this aid goes to the prisoners captured in the Philippines, even though the Japanese government has not yet allowed the appointment of a delegate dele-gate of the International Red Cross committee in the Philippines. There is naturally anxious speculation specu-lation on the treatment of prisoners, especially in view of reports of brutality bru-tality brought back to the United States by some internees, particularly particu-larly newspaper correspondents returning re-turning on the exchange ship, the Gripsholm. Political Suspects. These latter were detained by the Japanese equivalent of the Gestapo, and were in most cases thrown into jail on the pretext that they were political suspects. The Japanese did not recognize that they came under the protection of the Geneva Prisoners Pris-oners of War convention. The International In-ternational Red Cross committee delegates are strictly limited by the Japanese government to efforts to protect the interests of the men of the armed forces held as prisoners of war and of civilians interned in recognized camps. These are held in prison camps or compounds. International Red Cross committee delegates permitted permit-ted to inspect these camps in Japan and occupied China, and to speak to the prisoners, have reported that conditions are satisfactory and that they have received no serious complaints. com-plaints. Any report of ill treatment of men in the armed forces who have been captured usually applies to the period pe-riod when the prisoner is still on or near the field of battle, when the animosities engendered by hostilities hostili-ties are still strong. As soon as the prisoner has been placed in an organized or-ganized prison camp governed by the agreements made at Geneva, his situation is usually much improved. lAWf if tt"tv $ Ml Civilians as well as prisoners of war benefit from the cargo of a Red Cross mercy ship. Evidence of distribution, through Red Cross channels, of cracked wheat is seen in the garments worn by these Chinese Chi-nese children. parcels to supplement the diet of prisoners in Germany, Italy and occupied oc-cupied France. These supplies are distributed through the International Internation-al Red Cross committee at Geneva. Delegates of the committee are allowed al-lowed to inspect the prison camps to check on whether the prisoners are being treated in accordance with the international agreements, and to see that the parcels reach them safely. Contents of the parcels vary from time to time, but at present each package, weighing approximately 11 pounds, contains milk powder, 1 lb.; cheese, 8 oz.; liver paste, 6 oz.; corned beef, 12 oz.; pork meat, 12 oz.; raisins, 16 oz.; sugar, 8 oz.; lemon powder, 12 oz.; cocoa, 8 oz.; coffee, 8 oz.; chocolate, 4 oz.; candy, can-dy, 6 oz.; cigarettes, 40; tobacco, 2V4 oz.; lunch biscuit (type C), 7 oz.; matches, 2 boxes. The sending of packages to Japan is a more difficult matter, due to the refusal of the Japanese government to allow neutral vessels in the western west-ern Pacific areas. It is hoped that eventually arrangements may be made for the shipment by the Red Cross of a regular supply of standard stand-ard food parcels, cigarettes, clothing and medical necessities. In the meantime, the American Red Cross has been able to send food parcels for trans-shipment to the Far East on the neutral Swedish vessel, the Gripsholm, sailing to Portuguese East Africa, where American and Japanese diplomats and other noncombatants are exchanged. ex-changed. ' On her first sailing the Gripsholm carried 20,000 parcels, $50,000 worth of drugs and medical supplies, 1,000,000 cigarettes, 10,000 tans of smoking tobacco, and large quantities quanti-ties of clothing and toilet articles supplied by the army and navy departments de-partments for their respective departments. de-partments. On her second voyage, the Gripsholm Grips-holm carried 60,000 of the 11-pound food parcels, 20,000,000 cigarettes, This strange device is a circular filing machine. Installation of machines ma-chines of this type was made necessary neces-sary by the large number of messages mes-sages passing through the Red Cross inquiry service at Washington, D. C. transmitted at once to the central information bureau of the country interested. , The provost marshal general of the United States keeps a permanent perma-nent official list of all names received re-ceived from the International Red Cross committee, and arranges for notification to the next of kin. Names of some prisoners captured by the Japanese have been received, but Long before this nation entered the conflict Red Cross mercy ships were sailing from the United States laden with provi- sions for the peoples of war-torn Europe. Here the McKeesport is shown passing the Statue of Liberty as she heads for the open sea. rTmmo. rJmHaJtf ll "i Till i tl " - ' , f ' . - v $ . x . -W '$ |