| Show international red cross aids to locate war prisoners boners instrumental in ill obtain obtaining fair treatment of all internees Inter nees pei perhaps haps you know a soldier or sailor who is a prisoner of war or perhaps you have been notified that he Is missing in action but have no official word that lie he is a prisoner in any case you want more in information formation you want to know about getting more news of him you want to know if you can send a lettl letter r or a parcel with warm clothes and some of those cookies he is so fond of the best place to got get that information Is through the red cross your nearest local red lied cross chap tor ter can tell you what you want to know if possible go to the chapter yourself rather than write if you dont know where it Is or cant find it in the telephone directory call the city hall or any government or municipal agency and they will tell you the lied cross chapter will tell you exactly how to address a letter to the prisoner or will help you nil fill in a message on oil a special term ann cnn it lie ho Is only listed as missing in action they will tell you too about parcels and they wilt will explain what Is being dono done by the alic lied cross anti and other agencies to make life as bearable its AS possible for him while ho he Is in enemy hands the situation changes frequently fre quent lyo 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 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 tor for that purpose nearly 60 80 years ago under agreements made at genova geneva before the war in 1929 to be exact tho 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 war germany and italy were among those who agreed tu to abide by those rules and in february 1012 1912 japan announced that sho she would observe them lich hoch nation agreed to set up a central bureau for prisoners of war information the united states has sot set up a prisoners of war information bureau in the domce of the provost marshal generalis gene ralin the war department the japanese government established its central prisoners bureau in tokyo in december 1041 cabled to geneva names of prisoners and civilian internees Inter nees are assembled by these bureaus cabled to the international red cross committees agency in geneva listed and filed tor for reference in the committees central agency for prisoners of war and what Is it ai k A nil this strange device Is a 4 circular tiling filing machine installation of machines of this type was made necessary by the large number of messages passing through the red cross inquiry in service at washington D C transmitted at once to the central information bureau of tho th country interested the provost marshal general of the united states keeps a permanent official list of all names received 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 there iler has as been long delay on the part of the japanese government in forwarding lists of those captured in the philippines if after a reason reasonable ab le time you have received no word of a man believed capt captured you can ask your cited cross chapter to help you jou fill out an inquiry form ind and the red bcd cross will make every effort to ob tain lain a report kach each nation also agreed to provide suitable prison quarters with adequate heat and cooking facilities and food similar to that given to its 0 own wil soldiers in barracks and to allow the prisoners to write home and receive mall mail and parcels war prisoners are confined in camps P or compounds usually surrounded by barbed wd wire and aad armed guards in which they may move about comparatively ively freely but they may not bo be shut up as in a jail prisoners are allowed to send a limited number of letters or post 1 cards depending not only on tho the country but tho the camp in which they are situated prisoners of war and civilian internees Inter nees hold held by the united states tor for example german italian and japanese may send two letters and one postcard per week and may receive an unlimited amount of incoming mall mail letters from german prison camps aro are sometimes received within two or three months but obviously mail from prisoners in the for far east must be expected to take much longer parcels delivered it has also been possible to deliver weekly standard red cross food deiv ft till 1 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 to in the garments worn by these chinese children parcels to supplement the diet of prisoners in germany italy and occupied france these supplies supplier are distributed through the international red cross committee at geneva delegates of the committee are allowed to inspect the prison camps to check on whether the prisoners are being treated in accordance with tho the international agreements and to see ce that the parcels reach them safely contents of the parcels vary from time to 0 o time but at present each package gep weighing approximately 11 pounds contains milk powder I 1 lb ib choose cheese 8 oz oaf liver paste 6 oz oi corned beef 12 oz pork meat 12 02 ozi raisins 16 oz ox sugar 8 oz lemon powder 12 OK cocoa 8 oz coffee 8 oz chocolate 4 oz candy 6 oz cigarettes 10 40 tobacco 2 2 oz lunch biscuit type C 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 pacific areas it is hoped that eventually arrangements may be madeloy ma made delor for the shipment by the red cross of a regular supply of standard food parcels parcel cigarettes clothing and medical necessities in the meantime the american red cross has been able to send food parcels for transshipment trans shipment to the far east on the neutral swedish ve vessel asel the Grips holm sailing to portuguese east africa where american and japanese diplomats and other non combatants are exchanged c on her first sailing the Grips holm carried parcels parc elj worth of drugs and medical supplies cigarettes tins of smoking tobacco and lar large ge quantities of clothing and toilet articles supplied by the army and navy departments part ments for their respective departments part ments on her second voyage the grips holm carried of the ll 11 pound food parcels cigarettes for avar prisoner A red lied cross yorker worker Is shown assembling sem bling a prisoner of war package offord of food and cigarettes preparing these packages Is only one of the many services performed by volunteer red cross canteen workers over worth of drugs and medical supplies worth of blankets and toilet artiel articles es and large quantities of underwear shoes and other articles amounting to more than halt half a million items distribution of supplies to prison evs in the far east Is being carried out by international red cross committee delegates in III tokyo shanghai and long hong kong who will make every effort to see that part of this aid goes to the prisoners captured in the philippines even though tho the japanese govern government men I 1 has not yet allowed the appointment of a delegate of the international red cross committee in the philippines there la Is naturally anxious speculation on the treatment of prisoners especially in view ot of reports of brutality brought back to the united states by some internees Inter nees particularly newspaper correspondents returning on the exchange ship the Grips holm political suspects these latter were detained by the japanese equivalent of the gestapo and were in most cases thrown into lall jail on the pretext that they were political suspects the japanese did not recognize that they came under the protection of the geneva prisoners of war convention the international ter red cross committee delegates are strictly limited by the japanese government to efforts to protect the tha 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 permit ted led 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 pla ints any report of III 11 treatment of men in the armed forces who have been captured usually applies to the pe hod when the prisoner Is still on or near the field of battle when the animosities engendered by hostilities ho still are arc still strong As soon as the prisoner has been placed in an or prison camp governed by the agreements made at geneva his situation Is usually much improved y w I 1 N 14 yv j aimi pa 3 Y I 1 I 1 1 0 1 U tx y aw A |
