The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-09-21
RED CROSS RELIEF TO
SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
Home Service Branch Issues lnfor-
nation to Families as to The Prop
er Way to Communicate With Men
On The Other Side.
Missing.

Hardest of all for family to bear
is the news that boy is missing in
action The War Department in
forms a father that his son was re
ported missing on March 27th. This
may mean anything he was
killed; that he was severely wound
ed; that Identification was for the
time impossible; or that he was ia
ken prisoner. When a man is re-
ported missing the Red Cross does
not wait for any inquiry from the
family. The Bureau of Communlca-
ton Immediately writes to the father
to tell him what steps are being taken
and the Paris office sets to work
Name, Regiment, and Company of tie
missing man are Immediately se..t TO
all the searchers in the various hos
pitfalls, because there may be survlv-
ors of the enga cement in almost any
hospital. 1t is the duty OF these
searchers to inquire of others WHO
were in the same engagement as to
what may have happened. These
others are asked whether they knew
the son, whether they saw him in the
engagement, whether they have per-
sonal or hearsay knowledge of what
happened to him. Their evidence, mo
matter how conflicting, is sent thru
Paris to Washington, and the Bureau
of Communication issues successive
bulletins to the family, warning them
when the evidence is only hearsay,
warning them also that Impressions
in a battle are sure to be confused
and unreliable. But conflicting as
the different bits of evidence may be
when considered in pairs, they will
generally be found to lead toward
the truth when considered as a
whole. This accommodating evidence
shows the family that no effort is
being spared to find the man, and
the bulletins either tend to relieve
anxiety or to prepare the family to
face the almomst certain fact of
death if the name of the missing man
does not appear on the prisoner lists
that finally come out of Germany. In
some branches of the service this
preliminary search is impossible. An
aviator, for example, flies over the
German lines, is lost to view, and
does not return. In the German
prisoner lists, or in report of death
issued weeks later by the German
Government lies the only hope that
the aviator's fate will ever surely be
known.
The Red Cross, however, does not
confine itself to inquiries on the AL
lied side of the lines As soon as a
man is reported missing an inquiry
is started in Germany through the
International Red Cross in Geneva.
The American Red Cross in Paris
makes this inquiry as automatically
as it sends the names of missing men
to searchers in the hospitals. Lists
of American prisoners in Germany
are eventually given out by the Ger
man Government and these are sent
by the Spanish Ambassador in Ber-
lin to the American Minister in
Berne The International Red Cross
is generally able, however, with the
assistance of the German Red Cross,
to secure the names some days, and
often weeks, in advance of the Off
cial lists, and the various belligerent
governments accept these Red Cross
lists as official Furthermore, the
Germans often permit prisoners to
send cards to their families announc-
ing that they have been captured.
When prisoners reach permanent
camps the Prisoners Help Commit
tee is permitted to send postal card
to the American Red Cross in Berne
SO that the regular food supplies may
be sent without delay. In any case,
as soon as names reach either the
International Red Cross at Geneva,