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TRIBUTE TO RED CROSS

HUMANITARIAN WORK IN PEACE AND WAR EX-P.O.W. EXPRESSES GRATITUDE “To-day many thousands of people are meeting all over the Dominion to remember before God the work of the Red Cross Society, and we prav for God’s continued blessing on that work, which has for its unselfish and admirable objective the alleviation of human suffering,” declared Major C. N. Armstrong, M.C., in the course of his address in the Opera House yesterday afternoon on the occasion of the observance of Red Cross Sunday. Members of the society, the Junior Rod Cross, voluntary aids, voluntary transport workers, and representatives from the various sub-branches, together with a scattering of the general public, attended. The service was conducted by the Rev. A. C. McLean, pre. ident of the Wanganui Centre. The lessons were read by Mr. W. D. Young, centre chairman, and the prayers wore led by the Ven. Archdeacon J. R. Young. Major Armstrong was the guest speaker, and in the course of his address related the valuable part the Red Cross played in the sustenance of prisoners of war.

“I join with you all the more fervently because, four years ago almost to the day, in a P.O.W. camp in Italy, I joined with many others in giving thanks and gratitude and blessings to the Red Cross for giving us food and life and hope,” he stated. “In common with most ot those in captivity, I had never contemplated the possibility of being taken prisoner, but I had heard of and had discussed after capture the good work that was done by the Red Cro s in providing comforts for P.O.W.’s. There were no Red Cross parcels when we were captured, and the food provided by the Italians was sadly inadequate—we were hungry; we were becoming thin and weak from the lack of food; we were cold and miserable through the snows of an Italian win ter; and we had no cigarettes from which to derive consolation ini our misery. HOPE GIVEN UP “We learnt there the essentials of life—food, warmth and cigarettes,” he continued. “From the beginning there was always the hope fostered continually by our captors that Red Cross parcels would arrive soon. But as week followed week and month followed month, we became more and more cynical about these, promises and more and more resigned to the fact that parcels would never arrive. “At the end of four months of winter, practically all hope of relief was gone. That was at the beginning of 1942, and you will remember how black was the outlook for the Allied nations at that time, and I cannot express the hopelessness we all felt at the prospect of an indefinite period of semi-starvation. We had no books to read, no cigarettes to smoke, snow was on the ground outside, and we could only lie in bed all day for warmth and contemplate the awful empty future,” the major went on. “Then one day in March, unheralded and almost unhoped for, came the Red Cross parcels. I cannot attempt to describe the joy that flowed through the camp on that memorable day. I can only say that if those who had contributed io those parcels, who had packed them and who had helped send them so far to us, could have witnessed the overwhelming joy ard gratitude and relief of the prisoners that day, it would have been all the recompense they could have wished for their labour.”

While this was not the true picture of P.O.W. life as a whole, it indicated the conditions prevailing in the winter of 1941-42, caused through the unexpected influx of 20,000 P.O.W.’s, the major said, and without the help of the Red Cross those conditions would have existed throughout the war, and many P.O.W.’s would not have returned to their families at the conclusion of hostilities, he considered. CARE OF SICK AND WOUNDED “The relief of P.O.W.’s is only one of the many aims of the Red Cro s,” the speaker proceeded. “Its oldest and perhaps widest function is the care of the sick and wounded in times of war. “How much the wounded soldiers owe to the Red Cross organisation! ’ Major Armstrong remarked. “Right up with tne forward infantry platoons arc ihe stretcher-bearers, wearing the Red Cro-s armband and carrying their first-aid equipment and stretchers. Despite incidents to the contrary, the protection of the Red Cross flag is respected by the Germans,” he said, and related incidents of rescues in the field under fire. “It is to the International Red Cross that we owe the privilege for immuni.y for this humanitarian purpose.” The speaker told of the work Red Cross workers did for the wounded or sick right throughout their period of illness until well. Right from the time they were taken from the battlefield till' they were discharged from nospital in New Zealand. “In New Zealand in wartime we see evidences of the work of the Red Cross. We find women packing parcels for P.O.W.’s, visiting the sick and wounded in hospitals, preparing medical supplies and comforts for the troops, and engaging in all manner of activities to raise money, without which the society could not operate. We find the Red Cross training the voluntary aids who do such fine work in hospitals, both overseas and at home.

“So al o in times of peace wherever there is a national disaster—an earthquake, a pestilence, a famine—there you will find the Red Cross with its good works and relief to the distressed peoples, carrying on as it has dore in time of war. , “The Red Cross takes the parable of the good Samaritan to illustrate the significance of its ideals of service —voluntary service for the benefit of suffering humanity,” Major Armstrong concluded. “Let us go away from this hall to-day having given thanks and recognition; for the work of the Red Cross and of the many people who make up its organisation, and, bearing in mind the great charitable work it has done and is doing, say to ourselves, ‘Go thou and do likewise.’ ”

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WC19460311.2.30

Bibliographic details

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 57, 11 March 1946, Page 4

Word Count
1,013

TRIBUTE TO RED CROSS Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 57, 11 March 1946, Page 4

TRIBUTE TO RED CROSS Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 57, 11 March 1946, Page 4