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Show PREPAREDNESS AMERICAN RED CROSS '"TO THOUSANDS of Americans seeking news of their families and friends in war-torn countries, 25 words on an official Red Cross form have meant all the difference between hope and despair. Ever since the outbreak of the war, the American Red Cross has been for many people the only medium me-dium through which they could get news of their relatives in Poland, Holland, Belgium and the other occupied oc-cupied nations. Even when the news has been bad, even when it has been the worst possible, it has at least meant merciful release from torturing anxiety and uncertainty. uncer-tainty. For a while it was possible in a few cases to maintain contact by letter over long roundabout routes. Since America's entry into the war, all remaining avenues of communication com-munication have been closed. Today, under the rules of the United States Office of Censorship, Censor-ship, personal messages to residents of enemy or enemy occupied territory may be forwarded for-warded ONLY through the Red Cross inquiry service here and the International Red Cross committee in Geneva, Switzerland. Switzer-land. Regulations governing the sending send-ing of one of these messages from the United States are that the communication, com-munication, which should be filled in at a local Red Cross chapter, must not be more than 25 words, and should be in English. If it is written in a foreign language, an English translation must be attached. at-tached. The United States Office of Censorship rules that no mention men-tion may be made of politics or military subjects, defense materials, shipping or weather conditions, business matters or geographic names. Persons employed on munitions or other oth-er government work must not mention that fact when writing writ-ing abroad, and any kind of abbreviation, nickname or description de-scription of a person or place is also taboo. But even the strict regulations cannot rob the brief message on the International Red Cross form of its human warmth and drama. The original message, made out in some local Red Cross chapter here, goes on its long and slow journey across ocean and continents. conti-nents. Space is provided on it for a reply message, to be returned re-turned to the original sender. Prepared Exclusively for WNU. |