BRITISH RED CROSS

Evening Star, Issue 23683, 17 September 1940, Page 11

BRITISH RED CROSS

WORK IN THIS WAR CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE The magnificent work which the British Rod Cross and Order of St. John has done and is still doing in the present war is described in a special message which Field-Marshal Sir Philip Chetwode, chairman of the executive committee of the war organisation, has sent to the chairman of the New Zealand Red Cross Society, Dr A. Gillies. It is difficult for us here, in England, to tell the people of the colonial Empire how grateful wo are for the wonderful effort they have made on behalf of tho British Red Cross and Order of St. John War Organisation in this country,” the message runs. “ 1 know very well that many people think tlie Red Cross is merely a moneycollecting agency, and that what we give out to tho Press as to the way iu which their money is spent very often does not reach them. May 1, therefore, tell you a few things which we have done since the beginning of the war to carry cut onr great task of mercy and relief of suffering, “ Wo sent out to France between £30,900 and £40,000 worth of medical comforts and stores. We have a letter from tho chief medical officer in France saying how much these supplies meant to him in his care of the sick and wounded during the timo that our expeditionary force was overseas. WORK IN EUROPE. “ Wo sent out 58 vehicles, including 26 ambulances, fully equipped; we established a convalescent home for officers, and another for nurses, and equipped and staffed them. “ Wo sent to Finland £12,000 worth# of medical supplies. Two aeroplanes were sent the moment Finland*asked «s for help, with stocks of chloroform, inoculation serum, and essential drugs. “ We sent more than £12,000 worth of medical stores to Norway in the same way, the moment they asked us. In both cases difficulties of transport were very great. 1 “ We have a large department which deals entirely with the despatch of parcels of food, clothing, and necessaries to prisoners of war in enemy hands. 'ln tho last war wo spent close on £4,000,000 on this work alone. “ We have another large department which concerns itself with inquiries by people for their wounded and missing relatives. This work is of such immense value that it alone would almost justify the existence of the Red Cross. At present it is dealing with thousands of letters a day From anxious people seeking information about their wounded and missing relatives. “We also offer help to relatives in visiting dangerously wounded or sick soldiers in hospital. This was_ done first iu France, and is now carried on in England, often entailing finding temporary accommodation for people near hospitals. “ In May came the tragic collapse of Belgium, the return of the 8.E.F., and later the collapse of France. Everything wo had at Boulogne, and all our ambulances fell into the hands of the enemy. We hoped that we might have rescued the stores at Dieppe, and our staff, at great risk to themselves, went back time after time getting the stores out and away to the west coast, but such was the rush to save human lives that we, at the last moment, had to abandon them. # “ We have lost everything wo put into Prance, and all that has to bo replaced. WHEN THE WOUNDED POURED BACK. “ Then tho wounded began to pomback to England, and in the first days of the Dunkirk evacuation we wore asked for £30,000 worth of hospital comforts, which wo delivered to hospitals all over England. “ Our trained stretcher-bearers and V.A.D.s worked day and night to remove tho sick and wounded from tho ships and take them to trains and hospitals. “ We have constant demands on us to help with hospital stores and clothin" sailors who have been shipwrecked, and, in many cases, wounded by enemy action. All our existing county organisations are told to find at once all that is needed for that work. “ The Ministry of Health, iu whoss charge the wounded are now, has called upon us to find 10,000 beds at short notice. They will help with tho cost of equipping these hospitals, which may amount to as many as 200, all over the British Isles, but it will cost tho British Red Cross and St. John organisation huge sums to staff and maintain them. “Now that we are the last defence against barbarism in Europe, these isles have become a fortress and may at any moment become a battlefield, where communications may be cut_ in various directions from tho centre in London. We have provided for this eventuality by sending out stores to all counties and districts and providing these counties and districts with money, telling them that wo expect them to cqrry on the work of the Red Cross whatever happens, and wo will see them through. CIVIL POPULATION. “ They know well that instead of only concerning themselves with the sick and wounded of the fighting forces they will now have to deal- with the sick and wounded of tho civil population, who are now, men, women, and children, in the firing line; and they will meet this tragic necessity just as they have met every other emergency. “ We have undertaken to find for the War Office and Ministry of Health anything up to 200 ambulances, and we are well on the way to doing so. A largo number of these ambulances are being supplied through the generosity of the dominions, colonies, and British communities in all parts of the world; 50 of them have been promised by Canada; 50 by the United States of America; and we have now another offer from the United States of America of anything up to 200. We, of course, have to staff and equip them. “ We, tho war organisation of tho British Red Cross and Order of St. John, are determined—come what may —to carry out our duties to the sick and wounded, and justify the confidence which the public have so generously placed iu us.”