New Britain herald., 1918-05-24

prisoners of war section of the miscer
laneous division of the adiutant
generals office in the war department
with the cooperation of the Red
Cross
Up to date this section has forward
ed information to relatives of about
800 imprisoned Americans, nearly 200
of these being civilians, including
members of ship crews, who were inr
termed in Germany at the outbreak of
the war. While considerably more
than 100 American soldiers have been
reported by General Pershing as miss
ing only about this number have been
located in prison camps. No reports
have been received relative to the
wherea bouts of 1873 Americans
claimed by the Germans to have been
captured in a recent engagement.
Some of these probably have been In
cluded in the lists of the missing.
AS q, rule reports of the location
of prisoners have reached the prison
ers of war section of the war depart
ment through the Red Cross within r.
week or ten days after their capture.
Usually the first reports give the tenn
porary camp to which the prisoners
are taken. Often the prisoners are
third camp. In each case the word
| usually comes through without much
delay. .
| Under the system adopted tele-
| grams are sent to relatives first when
| the men are reported by General Per-
| shing as missing. These kilograms are
| sent by the statistical division of this
adiutant generals office which also
| handles casualties. The next tele-
grams are sent to relatives when in
| formation arrives relative to their
whereabouts in prison camps These
kilograms go from the prisoners OF
war section.
| simultaneously circular letters are
sent to relatives by the prisoners OF
war section informing them how they
may communicate with the captureS
soldiers. AS later information arrives
Regarding the transfer of prisoners
from one camp to another telegrams
are sent promptly to the relatives.
| It is a surprise to many to learn
how easily it is possible for relatives
to communicate with prisoners. Priss
oners of war are entitled to receive
and send letters, money orders and
valuables as we'll as parcels by post
not exceeding IL pounds in weight
When intended for international mail
these are free from all postal duties.
The mail should be addressed to
the prisoner, giving his rank, full
name and the name of the prison
| camp, if known, followed by Prison
| err of War Mail, via New York" The
name and address of the sender must
be given on the upper left hand corner
and in case of parcel post packages
the relationship Of the sender to the
prisoner also must be clearly stated
The reason for this is that only one
package may be sent per month and If
a greater number is sent the one ap-
parently from the prisoners next OF
| kin is forwarded, and the others held
| in New York pending communication
with the sender, with whose consent
such excess packages may be forward
ed to some other prisoner who in that
; particular month has received no
package from any source.
Letters are subject to a careful cen
sorship and are not permitted to con-
tain anything of military nature or
to relate to any commercial transac-
ton No leather goods may be for
warded and no periodicals except
those published prior to the beginning
of the war. Articles which may be
sent include sweaters, towels, under
wear, socks, handkerchiefs, gloves
| needles and thread shirts, shoe laces
J tobacco. cigars, cigarettes, toilet arti-
cles including brushes soap, tootf
paste and shaving materials, hare
candy, crackers or biscuits, pens, pen
) ellis and pocket knives.