Ogden Standard Examiner 3 June 1951 Letter to the Editor May 30, 1951 < Editor Ogden Standard-Examiner Ogden, Utah Dear Sir: Most people donate to the Red Cross during their annual drive. Many of these, though, do so in spite of the fact that they loudly voice their criticism of the organ¬ization. If ever the Red Cross has failed to do a certain service—possibly be¬cause hindered by regulations or because service was not really needed—the report seems to spread far and wide and become greatly magnified. The final conclusions one hears from various people at different times then are that they do no good and the money we do¬nate is used only to pay salaries to high officials. As one who has recently received assistance I want all to know of one example of Red Cross help. The first of May I went out to Hill Air Force base hospital to have a baby. Since I had no relatives closer than Chicago and my hus¬band was in Korea with the First marine division, I made financial arrangements with a woman to care for my three-year-old and a friend volunteered to keep my six- year-old during my absence. I had been home but a short time when complications arose. As the corpsmen prepared to take me and the new baby back to the hos¬pital in the ambulance, my daughter said, "Mommy, who's going to feed us?" I didn't have any answer. I had exhausted my resources for my first trip. A good friend, Mrs. Bet¬ty Wiese, stayed with the children that night and stayed home from work the next morning. She con¬tacted Miss Sorenson of the Red Cross. They found and placed the girls in a nursery where they re-mained until I came home again. Then they found a woman who came to live with us and took over my entire job at home until now when I am able to do it myself Since our new son brought the number of his dependents to four, my husband is now receiving his discharge and is on his way home. This too was made possible by the Red Cross when they sent a com-munication to Korea, at my hus¬band's request, verifying the fact that we had a new baby. To Miss Sorenson, the Red Cross worker who worked so hard solving my problems for me; to Mrs. Brown, who came to stay with me and did even more than could have been expected and willingly lost a government job to be with me; and finally to all the fine people of Ogden who donated to the Red Cross drive and made paying Mrs. Brown and the nursery possible, I send my sincerest thanks. I deep-ly appreciate the help you have given me. Sincerely, Mrs. George Mead 1417 Binford Ogden, Utah National Red Cross Chief Will Attend Ogden Event E. Roland Harriman, president of the American National Red Cross, will be the principal speaker at the 1951 Utah state fund cam¬paign initial conference in Ogden, Friday, Feb. 9. A brother of Averell Harriman, Union Pacific chairman, President Harriman is a prominent New York banker and railroad executive. He will visit Ogden as part of a nation wide tour of major cities preceding the March 1-31 annual Red Cross fund drive, said Olin H. Ririe, chairman of the Weber county chapter. Primary purpose of his trip, it was pointed out, is to inform the public of the exact nature and ex¬tent of the important tasks as¬sumed by the Red Cross for the military forces and for civil de¬fense in the present national emer¬gency. 35 Chapters Invited The 34 Utah Red Cross chapters and the Elko, Nev., county chap¬ter. have been invited to send dele-gates to the conference, Chairman Ririe said. The Ogden confer¬ence will be the third in a series of eight such conferences which are being held in the west during January and February. Others are being held in Oakland, Calif., Portland, Ore., Olympia, Wash., Butte, Bont., Boise, Ida., and Pasa¬dena, Calif. Other speakers at the Ogden conference, which will be held in the Weber college institute chapel, will be Col. Alvin Sessions, mem¬ber of the Utah civil defense com¬mittee; Edwin H. Carroll, assistant manager of the Pacific area of¬fice, Red Cross, and O. L. Thore- son, regional director of the Pacific area office The conference will get under¬way at nine-thirty a. m., with reg¬istration at the institute. Col. Ses¬sions will be the first speaker at E. Roland Harriman the morning session. He will dis¬cuss "Civil Defense in Utah." He will be followed by Carroll who will speak on "Red Cross Re¬sponsibilities in Civil Defense." President Harriman will address a luncheon meeting at noon at the Hotel Ben Lomond. The subject of his talk will be, "Mobilize for Military and Civil Defense." Thoreson will speak at the after¬noon session of the conference on "National Commitments on the Blood Program," and "Commit¬ments on Service to the Armed Forces." A tea will be held for Mrs. Har¬riman at four p. m. at the chap¬ter home, 1961 Washington. The public is invited. Wo men Show Determination In Bus Strike It took a city-wide bus strike to demonstrate just how im¬portant current American Red Cross home nursing classes are to some, Weber county chapter officials reported.- Mrs. O. C. Hammond, director of nursing services for the local chapter said women attending classes took some drastic steps in order not to miss a session. One woman, said Mrs. Ham¬mond, walked twenty-four blocks from her home on Harrisville road to the chapter home. An¬other caught a magazine sales- . man as he called at her door and had him give her a ride. Others thumbed with good SUCC6SS. But the little woman with cour¬age was the one who took the family car while her husband walked to work. A blood bank mobile unit from Boise, Ida., American Red Cross regional blood center, will be in Ogden Feb. 6, 7 and 8 to obtain blood from depots at Utah general depot. 2/1/51 Blood Donors Await Idaho Mobile Unit A blood bank mobile unit from Boise, Ida., American Red Cross regional blood center, will be in Ogden Feb. 6, 7 and 8 to obtain blood from depots at Utah general depot. According to local Red Cross officials, who will assist in the operation, 1250 employes of the depot have signed up to give blood. All blood obtained is for use by the armed forces, it was explained. To Provide Help The local chapter has made ar¬rangements to furnish Grey,La¬dies, nurses aids, staff assistants, canteen workers and notor corps personnel for the activity. All will be volunteers. It is the first such effort to be attempted in Weber county, said Olin H. Ririe, chapter chairman. If it proves successful, others may be attempted. Through an agreement with the main offices, V. J. Kinghorn, local distributor for Folger's coffee, will supply coffee and equipment for thfe operation of a canteen at the blood procuring site Chairman Ririe said. 2/2/51 1250 at Depot Sign To Donate Blood OGDEN (Special)—With more than 1250 employes of Utah Gen¬eral Depot signed up with offers to contribute blood, arrival of the Boise, Ida., Bloodmobile unit is awaited for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of next week, when the unit will be at the depot to receive blood contributions. Olin H. Ririe, chairman of Weber county chapter, , American Red Cross, said this unit from the regional, ARC blood center at Boise will accept rtfreso contri¬butions for, the armed forces. Should this effort, prove success¬ful others may be planned for the future, he explained. 12/1950 Veteran Aided In Emergency By Red Cross By Major Thomas M. Nial Audrey Ks. brother Joe was in I the army at Ft. Bragg, N. C., the i nighty his wife had a baby. An emergency came up, and the doc¬tors thought neither the baby nor moter 'might live. The rest of the famihg!rushed to the hospital and left ; p-year-old Audrey to tele¬phone Joe about getting an emer¬gen cleave. It was past midnight. The phone lines to the south were loaded. Audrey couldn't get through to Joe, nor to his com¬manding officer, whom she tried to reach in desperation. She spoke to the chief phone operator, who said no lines would be open for about five hours. Rings Red Cross So Audrey decided to ring the Red Cross. Like every chatoter, her local chapter was on a 24-piour basis and had a number listed to call after working hours. The Red Cross worker who an¬swered sized up the situation imme¬diately and within half an hour got a line through to Joe's C. O., who spoke to Audrey. By three a. m. Joe was homeward bound on emer-gency leave. Getting a phone line through is just an example of a simple prob¬lem the Red Cross helps solve. Emergencies come up in every family, and when a service man is critically needed at home his family should at once contact the local Red Cross chapter after get¬ting in-touch with the service man. Meanwhile, the chapter will check the facts of the emergency and wire a report to the Red Cross field director" at the man's base. Ife Up to C. O. If the man wishes to apply for leave, the field director will send the Red Cross to report to the C. Q. It's entirely up to the C. O. Whether leave will be granted. The service man applies to him. The Red Cross only checks the facts and reports. It doesn't recom¬mend for or against leave, though it may transmit the recommenda¬tion of the family doctor, lawyer, minister, etc. Say the man himself starts the ball rolling, not his family. He'll have to apply through his C. O. Since emergency leave Is charged against his annual leave entitle¬ment, maybe he's not sure, the emergency is serious enough for him to take leave. Then the Red Cross will investigate for him. Or maybe the C. O. will want the facts verified. Must Be Approved Suppose the man has used up all his leave. Can he get off? It's possible, but excess leave must be approved by the department of the army, navy or air force, which¬ever' he's in. In such cases, the Red Cross probably will be asked to make a report. With men overseas' in the army or air force (but not the navy or marines), the procedure is a little different. The family may start a request for the man's return. The man himself does not apply through his C. O. The family may speak to the local Red Cross chapter. . which sends a , report to Washington. If army ot air force headquarters authorize leave, the man's theatre commander is notified, and the man is shipped back as soon as possible, either on leave or for stateside duty. If the leave is denied, the man himself is not told a thing about the emergency at home unless his family specifi¬cally requests the Red Cross to notify him. Fellows home on leave who have an emergency situation pop up in the family may also apply for an extension of leave, usually to their C. O. Their home town Red Cross chapter will help here, too. f But if they get no answer-'to the leave request, they must plan on report¬ing when the original leave is up. Next- week I'll tell about hard¬ship discharges.