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Show fell m Things I Never Knew 'Til Now (About the Red Cross) Back in 1933, Japan suffered the worst disaster in its history (next to the one they asked for on December De-cember 7) ... An earthquake devastated an area of fifty square miles, taking a toll of. more than 144,000 lives. (The city of Yoko-hama Yoko-hama was totally destroyed by fire, as was most of Tokyo.) . . . President Presi-dent Coolidge promptly called on the American people to come to Japan's aid with five million dollars. The citizens of this country trampled over each other rushing to help the Japs, and the sum was subscribed in a mere ten days. But America didn't stop there the dollars kept pouring in until the Red Cross had almost twelve million dollars for Japan, when that nation needed a friend . . . This, however, is the bitter Irony: The Japs were so "appreciative" "ap-preciative" that they set aside three million dollars of the American Red Cross relief funds to build a "Memorial "Me-morial Fraternity Hospital" in the earthquake area as a permanent testimonial of Japan's gratitude to the United States! Red Cross nurses attached to the U. S. Army are officers with the rank of second lieutenant (And privates pri-vates are strictly prohibited by Army regulations from trying to date them or make passes at them.) ... In the Navy, the nurses are ensigns . . . The Army requires Its Red Cross nurses to carry helmets hel-mets and gas masks just like the soldiers, and no wonder. In the last war, 298 American nurses lost their lives in the service of their country. Contributors to the Red Cross have the best guarantee in the world that there won't be any hokus-pokus hokus-pokus with the funds, because its books are audited annually by the War Department and reported to Congress . . . The Red Cross' operating op-erating expenses are the lowest of any organization in the country-less country-less than four per cent of the money collected. (You can check it in any public library in the Congressional Record.) The women who are members of the Red Cross motor corps must furnish their own automobiles and gasoline, as well as foot their own parking bills. During the current emergency, they're required to serve one shift of eight hours each week and be on call twenty-four hours a day . . . The girls take a six-week training course, and one thing they're taught is how to repair a car themselves. Airedale terriers play an important impor-tant part in the work of the Red Cross in wartime. The dogs are sent out on the battlefields to locate wounded men. They carry containers contain-ers of water, and after letting the soldier quench his thirst, they race back to the stretcher-bearers and lead them to the injured man . . . In England the Red Cross dogs are furnished with gas masks. The first war in which the American Amer-ican Red Cross took part was the Spanish-American fracas . . . Clara Barton, founder of the American branch, had her hospital next to Major Leonard Wood's tent at Sibo-ney. Sibo-ney. One day a fellow-officer of Major Wood's stamped into her hospital hos-pital with a sack in his hand . . . "I have some sick men in my regiment," regi-ment," he bellowed, "and they want whatever delicacies you have here. I'll pay for them out of my own pocket. Will you sell them to me?" . . . "Not for a million dollars," Clara replied ... "I NEED that stuff!" protested the officer, shoving shov-ing out his jaw. "I think a lot of my men. I'm proud of them" . . . "We're proud of them, too," retorted retort-ed Clara. "But we can't sell hospital hos-pital delicacies. We give them" . . . Chuckling, the officer filled his sack and stamped out . . . Which is how CoL Teddy Roosevelt became a Red Cross fan. A red cross can be displayed only by the Red Cross Society, according accord-ing to an act of Congress. (With the xception of Army, Navy and Marine Corps medical authorities, anyone else who uses a red cross is liable to $500 fine and a year in jail.) There are a million and a half Fed Cross volunteers in the United S'.ate8. Volunteers receive no pay md must buy their own uniforms. (What's more, they must serve 100 tours before they're permitted to rut on their uniforms.) ... On the bulletin board of the Red Cross in L. A. is this reminder: "Don't forget that Thumbs Up' can be done with one hand, while the other hand 'Digs.' " Buy Defense Bonds-War Bonds-War prisoners of all nations are looked after and protected by the International Red Cross, which sets minimum standards of treatment and makes inspections of prison camps . . . The Red Cross handles all communications between prisoners prison-ers and their families. Every nation na-tion at war sends the names and addresses of their prisoners to the International Red Cross headquarters headquar-ters in Geneva, Switzerland, where an index of information about prisoners pris-oners is kept for the benefit of relatives. |