Top banner
   
  Home
  Teachers
Centre
  About British Red Cross and St. John Ambulance
  Add a Memory
  Search the Library

Big Lottery Fund Logo
  WOUNDED & MISSING AND POW
 

Under the 1929 Geneva Convention, Prisoners of War (POW) have the right to receive parcels of food and clothing. The JWO (Joint War Organisation) sent parcels to British POW, providing a vital addition to monotonous camp diets.

Other supplies were also sent to POW. Books, educational materials, games, sports equipment, and musical instruments all helped relieve the boredom of life in camp.

The JWO also helped the relatives of those serving in the Forces who had gone missing. They worked with the International Red Cross Committee, providing answers to the questions that thousands of anxious people had about their loved ones.

 
  GLADYS VENNER GLADYS VENNER
 London, BRC, POW Children
'The Christmas Party'
Gladys Venner decked the Town Hall of Hammersmith one wartime Christmas for a special children’s party. With their mothers in tow, the young guests streamed into the party, eager for tea and a treat from Father Christmas. With their real fathers in camps, children and mums thanked Gladys and co. for restoring their yuletide spirits. more...		 ZELDA DUNLOP ZELDA DUNLOP
Windsor, BRC, POW
'These chaps come back'
Zelda Dunlop gave a warm homecoming to liberated POW who were not, in fact, home at all. Queensmead House in Windsor provided provisional quarters for ex-POW from the far reaches of the British Empire. Liberated but not yet home, the men found freedom at the House and a friend in Zelda. more...		  
   
  PARCEL CENTRE PACKERS HOVE

PARCEL PACKING CENTRE
Hove, BRC, Parcels
'They need food'
The volunteers lifted, looped, pulled, and knotted. As ‘stringers’ at a packing centre in Hove, they secured the parcels that held vital foodstuffs for POW and refugees. Following the ‘filling’ and ‘packing’ stages, the stringers rounded out an efficient system. 4000 parcels were strung weekly. But like numbers, spirits ran high as well. more...


 DOUGLAS ISHERWOOD DOUGLAS ISHERWOOD
Jersey, SJA, Food Parcels
'Restoring hope and health '
Douglas Isherwood remembers how Jersey suffered under the German Occupation. St. John Ambulance did its best to cope. And then, relief arrived. The SS Vega arrived December 1944 bearing food parcels, and Douglas spent the next months restoring hope and health in Jersey homes. more...


   
  JULIA DRAPER

JULIA DRAPER
London, BRC, Welfare
'Missing relatives'
Julia Draper’s work put families back together. In the Tracing Department, she received requests from civilians for information on missing relatives. The International Red Cross in Geneva communicated between countries. Through Geneva, Julia tried her level best to reunite families across borders and alliances. more...

  ..  
           
 
View Broadband Video -Freedom: an ex-BBC cameraman held in a POW camp expresses his gratitude for the JWO food parcels

Facts

  • From 1939-1945 the JWO sent 20 million food parcels to POWs

  • From 1940, the JWO published the Prisoner of War magazine for the relatives of POWs, giving them news from the prison camps.

  
           
   
  If you would like to find out more about how to help St. John Ambulance or the British Red Cross, please visit our websites at www.sja.org.uk or www.redcross.org.uk