Saturday, August 29, 2009

Red Cross Booklets - WWII


Today's post will be relatively smaller than earlier ones. Over the last couple of months I have amassed so many books/booklets and literature item that now I concentrate more on literature items than postal items which used to be my first passion :-)

I will try to show more of these over period of time along with postal items striking proper balance between them for all of my readers.

First item is "A Guide Book to Calcutta, Agra, Delhi, Karachi, and Bombay". The booklet was published by The American Red Cross of the China-Burma-India (CBI) command. It was printed at Modern Art Press, Calcutta. This booklet seems to be printed somewhere around 1942.

The booklet describes about Red Cross in brief and then addresses the audience of this booklet i.e. the American servicemen and women who will be stationed in India as part of strengthening CBI (China-Burma-India) and SEAC (South East Asia Command) front.

WHAT IS THE RED CROSS ?

The American Red Cross - chartered by Congress to give aid in time of peace and war - is the agent of the American people, who support it by voluntary contributions. Its services are world-wide.

Field directors and hospital workers are aided by volunteers in more than 3700 chapters and 6000 branches serving every county in the country. The Red Cross gives services too numerous to mention here - such as helping in disaster, promoting health and safety, collecting blood-plasma, and so on. But remember this: that a prime duty of the Red Cross is to aid service and ex-service men and their families - with everything from advice to a financial lift in emergency.

In 1942 field directors aided 864,000 active service men and gave loans and grants amounting to $4,500,000; local chapters aided families of 800,000 service and ex-service men; and hospital workers served 264,000 convalescents in Army and Navy hospitals.

You can read most of its content at CBI Theater website.

Another book is "The American Red Cross With The Armed Forces". The book was published in May, 1945 almost near end of war and printed at Allied Printing, Washington D.C. Although, this booklet is not related to India in any manner still I have shown it here as it applies in general to Red Cross activities wherever American servicemen and women served including India.

The booklet describes red cross charter and area of work in more detail like the services provided to the soldiers, welfare programs run, services to the sick and wounded, recreation for troops overseas, services to the soldier and his family, services to the veteran and his family and finally services to prisoners of war.

The booklet was published to answer personal questions of the American families and neighbors of some 11300000 servicemen and women in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps , and Coast Guard: What is the American Red Cross doing for the serviceman himself? What are its representatives doing for him when he is homesick and worried, bored, restless, sick or wounded? What are they doing for him in the field, the leave area, the hospital? What are they doing when he returns home, discharged, and has problems resulting from his service? The trained men and women who are, we are told, "at his side" -who are they, what facilities do they have to work with, and exactly how do they work? Finally, how do the Red Cross chapters here at home help him and his family?

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