Evening star., 1944-02-29
Red Cross Schedules
Two Rallies Today;
Drive Opens tomorrow
Special Gifts Unit
To Report and FoIser
Will Address Employees

Two rallies were scheduled today
on the eve Of the opening Of the
District Red Cross War Fund cam
paign to raise $2,665, 900.
Further progress in the "big
money" drive waged by Chairman
Wilmer J. Walters Special Gifts
Unit was expected to be reported
at box luncheon meeting at the
United States Chamber of Com
merce.
At 4 pm, in Continental Memorial
Hall, 1000 employees Of the Ameri-
can Red Cross national headquar-
ters were to be addressed by John
Clifford Folger, chairman of the
District Red Cross Chapter. Their
subscriptions to the 5000, 900 900 ma
tional Red Cross goal are to be
credited to the District area cam
paign.
AS another feature of the meet
ing, the Silver Star was to be pre-
sented by the War Department to
James P. Shaw, Red Cross field
director, for gallantry in action. Mr..
Shaw, who rescued American SOL
diers from the sea after their land
ing craft received a direct hit in
the Sicilian invasion, will be the first
American Red Cross worker to re-
ceive the decoration. The award was
to be made by Maj. Gen. John T.
Lewis, commander of the military
district Of Washington.
Rally Set for Tomorrow.
The first general rally of key
workers in the District, Montgomery
and Prince Georges Counties in
Maryland, and Arlington and Fair
fax Counties in Virginia, is to be
he'd at noon tomorrow in inter-
departmental Auditorium. Pleas
for Red Cross support will be made
by Secretary of the Navy Knox,
1t. Gen. Brehon Somervell, chief
of Army Service Forces, and 1t.
Gen. Alexander A. Vandegrift, ma
rine commandant. General Cam
paign Chairman Lloyd B. Wilson
will preside.
Commenting on the national drive
opening tomorrow in more than
10000 communities, Chairman Nor
man Davis of the American Red
Cross said today:
Ninety per cent of the $500 ,O0O,-
600 will be spent on the ever
expanding Red Cross service to
American soldiers and sailors in
distant stheaters Of war, and their
families In the United States. Ap-
proximately $4,000, 900 will remain
in Red Cross chapters throughout
the country for direct aid to serv-
tcemen, their dependents in dis
tress and home-front emergencies
and services such as disasters.
I'VE will be expected to assume
an increasing burden necessitated
by the return of wounded and dis
abled servicemen to civilian life.
We have agreed to provide tenn
porary financial aid to servicemen
discharged with disabilities, when
that aid is needed, during the
period pending settlement of claims
for Government benefits,
More Blood Needed.
I'm the coming year we must in
crease the supply of blood for
plasma so necessary in saving the
lives of wounded men. We also
must meet the demands of the
military for surgical dressings and
expand our war nurse recruitment |
program. AS the war continues,
greater and greater numbers of
prisoner-of-war food parcels must
be packed and shipped by the Red
Cross for those Americans who are
taken prisoner by the enemy.
These are but few of the urgent
demands on the American Red
Cross. It's responsibilities are the
responsibilities of all the people"
A contribution of $1,000 to the
Red Cross from the National B'nai
Birth war service fund was an
nounced yesterday by Henry Monsky,
president of B'nai Birth. The gift,
he said, is exclusive of what the
more than 1000 lodges and women's
auxiliaries throughout the country
will contribute through local Red
Cross chapters.
During the 1912 and 1943 cam
paigns, he said, B'nai Birth ma
tionally and locally contributed
$4,000 to the Red Cross, in addition
to providing So pieces of mobile
equipment such as canteens,. blood
donor wagons, station wagons and |
ambulances.
District area motion picture men
yesterday were told that movie
houses must raise 100000 900 from
audiences during the March drive.
Addressing the meeting were
James T. Nicholson, national vice
president of the Red Cross; Joseph |
Bernhard, national chairman of the
Motion Picture Division of the Red |
Cross; Mr.. Shaw, Sam Dembow and
A. w. Smith, jr., of the War Activi-
ties Committee of the Motion Pic
ture Industry. A. Julian Brylawski
presided. Also attending were John
j. Payette and Carter T. Barron,
local co-chairmen.
". A>.>u~s. c,I