Description |
The Weber County Chapter of the Red Cross began in December 1915 when a small group of individuals gathered to begin organizing a chapter of the Red Cross. In 1962, the name was changed to the Bonneville chapter, and in 1969, the chapter merged with other chapters in Northern Utah to become the Northern Utah Chapter, with its headquarters located in Ogden, Utah. The scrapbooks range from 1940 to 2003 and highlight some of the important work of the Red Cross. The books include photographs, newspaper clippings, and other materials. |
OCR Text |
Show RED CROSS HAS VARIED DUTIES AS ‘MESSENGER’ Acts As Contact Unit Between Home Folks And Military Men June 1941 “Military discipline being what it is, the Red Cross frequently has to be sort of messenger agency between men in the nation’s services and their folks back home.” The speaker was Mrs. Leah Pardoe Greenwell, secretary of Weber county chapter of the American Red Cross. To her falls the administration of the “home service” activities of the local chapter. “It is astonishing what some of the problems we are brought in touch with amount to,” Mrs. Greenwell continued. Message Dispatched "For instance, if a relative of an army or navy man is sick and writes to ask the man to come home, he isn't allowed to leave just on his own say-so. Instead, the commanding officer of his unit wires the local Red Cross repre¬sentative or field representative for the district if there is no local chapter and asks that an investiga¬tion be made. "We call at the home of the sick relative and if we find the condi¬tion serious enough to warrant the return of the man in service, we send word back at once. Then the army or navy will see to it that the man gets to his home as quickly as possible." Deceit Discovered One man asked permission for a leave from the army, saying his grandfather was very ill in Ogden. Mrs. Greenwell called at the home and found—no grandfather either sick or healthy. The army man had a good record, so he got no punishment for the trick which failed, but needless to say, he didn't get the leave either. Another service which the Red Cross is often called upon to per¬form is to see that money sent by the soldier or sailor reaches his relatives. And sometimes the re¬verse is true. Messages, money and gifts from the folks at home often reach their destination at some far-distant army post or on some battleship in foreign waters through the good services of Red Cross workers. Many times this portion of the duty of the Red Cross chapter secretary or field representative means a tremendous amount of work, as persons are more easily lost to each other than is generally supposed. In Divorce Action Another job Mrs. Greenwell was recently called upon to perform was the representation of an air corps recruit in a divorce action brought by his wife. Since the man could not be excused from active duty to make his own arrange¬ments, the Red Cross made them for him. Occasionally a soldier or sailor "misses his train" while home on furlough. There may be any of a number of reasons for him to be away from his post overtime, in which case he often reports to the Red Cross secretary and explains matters. Sympathetic effort is then expended by the Red Cross to see that he rejoins his outfit at the earliest possible moment with the minimum penalty for overstaying his leave. Then again there are men who are "A. W. O. L." Sometimes these are merely homesick boys who took the first opportunity to return to their homes—without asking per¬mission. Sometimes they are de-serters, who have no desire to do anything but leave the service and who do not want to wait until their enlistment ends. Impartial Inquiry In these cases, the Red Cross represents the army or the navy but makes its investigation impar¬tially. It then recommends to the service officials what action should be taken. If homesickness is found to be the cause of the "French leave," then the investigator very often suggests that the officers in charge be lenient in dealing with the youth. "Sometimes men forget they have families at home who are interested in them," Mrs. Greenwell said. "They forget to write, and when they have been transferred a time or two the home folks lose track of them. If a member of the family becomes very ill, or perhaps dies, we are called many times to locate the man and notify him. "The complete cooperation given the Red Cross by the army, navy and marine corps makes this a relatively simple matter contrasted to what would have to be done if a private individual wanted to get the same information." In Family Distress The Red Cross also provides care for folks left at home when needy cases are brought to its attention. There was a case last year of a soldier who had been transferred several times and had not notified his family. Events transpired which made him the only person capable of supporting some of them, and until he could be located, the Red Cross provided the neces¬sities for the family. Only this past week newspapers carried the story of a sailor who rushed from far at sea to be at his daughter's bedside when she died. Although the story did not say so, it is probably entirely likely that it was an urgent message from the Boston chapter of the Red Cross which caused the navy to rush a special destroyer out to sea to speed the enlisted man, an electrician, to his home. Hidden in Files Files of every Red Cross chap¬ter in the nation are filled with such human interest stories, buried under other hundreds of cards giv¬ing in sketchy detail the stories of relief to suffering humanity, of a helping hand to service men in trouble and of the countless other activities of the greatest humani¬tarian agency in the world. These are the daily occurrences in the organization which is known world almost solely for its nursing and catastrophe relief ac¬tivities. These are the items which make its day-to-day record one of services seldom realized, seldom mentioned, and all too frequently unnoticed. Just One of Many Services HOME PORT . . . Leah Pardoe Greenwell, secretary of Weber counts chapter, American Red Cross, is shown at her desk as she takes notes on the case of a sailor who has overstayed his leave and now wants to return to his base. This is one of the many services the Red Cross performs at home for men in the nation's armed forces. |