Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1919-12-27
RED CROSS HELPS
CASES OF NEED AND
HOME SERVICE
The Romance Seen In The Desert Oh
Damascus As Well Is In
America

Ing men are DeINg caTed lOF Wherever
they may be and whatever may be the
diffleul;is of reaching them. In this
task American Red Cross Home Sery-
ice has been OF far-fung usefulness the
record established by it proving Sc
gratifying that Home Service. which
has been confined TO assistance OF The
families of soldiers ana sailors, is now
being expanded 10 be of general use
fulness to the people.
One of the purposes Of the Third
Roll Call for members, which was held
from November TO II. was to enable
the Red Cross to carry oct an enlarged
program of Home Service throughout
the United States
1 The helping hand of Home Service
Is strikingly portrayed in scores of in
cidents reported to Red Cross head
quarters. Wherever the families of
American fighters were. Red Cross
Home Service Workers have found
them even in the mountain Businesses
or deserts of distant countries. help
ing them communicate with their
loved ones and particularly seeing to
it that funds allotted TO them by their
boys actually reached them In in
Vulnerable instances, too. returned
doughboys have turned to Home Sery-
ice 10 help them in a wide variety of
problems. Whatever the help requir-
ed, Home Service men and women. of
whom there are thousands especially
trained for the work. have found
way to help, often under picturesque,
even romantic. circumstances.
There was a lonely Syrian mother
living four days by camel across the
desert from Damascus. Her son,
George Hamway having emigrated to
America. responded to the call to the
tolors in 1917 and fell fighting in the
Argonne. leaving only vague adj
dress of his mother 1t was found
when the War Risk Insurance Bureau
undertook TO begin payments to her ON
his s. 900 insurance q
In the uncertainty developing, the
matter was placed in the hands of the
American Red Cross Mission to Pales-
tine as routine Home Service case
Long searching located the aged mo-
Their, and she was brought TO Damas-
Gus by camel. accompanied by Witness
es. Bedouins in full gala attire Of the
desert After much palayer the iden-
tity OF tn ewoman was fully establish
ed and certification Of it forwarded TO
Washington, the old lady returning to
her lowly home to await the remit
lance that will ease her remaining
days
Antonio and Angela del Ruppo were
fairly well-to-do folks with little
farm in TTeviso. and about three miles
from the Piave When the war came
10 that part of Italy they were driven
out Of their home into Austrian terri
tory as prisoners while their little
farm became battlefield They were
held as farm laborers in Austria. !
knowing nothing of the real progress
of the fighting. They never heard that
the United States had entered the war
and that their own son in that coun-
try, Antonio, had enlisted and was
lighting for them in France.
/
been making frantic efforts to learn
what had become of his father and
mother. Red Cross Home Service
workers in Italy conducted an inves-
tigation. and a few weeks ago were !
able 10 send word to Antonio, who |
survived the fighting, that his parents |
had been found, just released from
captivity in Austria, and that the Red |
Cross would assist them until his al !
lotment money could reach Italy.
in the rush of getting the American |
soldiers home from France the dough-
his affairs there. Not long ago Home |
Service received from a demobIized |
soldier in this country a letter and
showing he had 5000 francs
on deposit in France and asking the
Red Cross to get it for him. All the
soldier had remembered was the name
of the town, the name of the bank he
had forgotten and his bank book had
been lost in action.
By the process of elimination Home
Service workers located the bank and
the deposit. the bank officials accept !
ing the word of the Red Cross that it
had authority TO collect the little fer
sune. and they turned it over to be for
Warded TO the former soldier.
But the romance of Home Service
has not been confined to work that
carried The representatives 10 remote
parts of the Old World Here in the
United States Home Service emer-
gency cases called Red Cross workers
10 many out-of-the-w places on err
rands varied and sometimes ramanlic
Rome Service is substantial neigh
bo.liness without unwanted intrusion
providing those who otherwise could
not have It's assistance in meeting the
mary problems confronting families