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Wounded, Missing and Relatives Department

In wartime there are many things to fear: death, pain and suffering may come to you, your family or friends, and at any time. For the relatives of those serving in the Forces one of the greatest fears was that they would answer a knock on the door and be handed a telegram. A son, husband, brother or close friend might have been killed in action or be missing.
If it were the second, there would be terrible mixed feelings of hope, fear and uncertainty, causing great stress and unhappiness.
The Wounded and Missing Department of the Joint War Organisation was first set up in June 1940 when the British Army retreated from Dunkirk, leaving over 40,000 men behind. It had to deal with thousands of people desperate for news of a relative or friend. Were they dead? If dead, how did they die? If alive, where were they?

The International Red Cross Committee in Geneva helped, and ways of getting information were found. German authorities sent lists of POWs and individual prisoners sent ‘capture cards’. Other methods included questioning survivors to build up a picture of what might have happened to someone.

The Joint War Organisation workers in this department were good at finding out the truth and letting relatives know quickly and sensitively. They also helped relatives visit service people who were badly injured, sent news to service people of their relatives, and helped move wounded patients.
A Joint War Organisation worker recalls the strain of dealing constantly with the extremes of human emotion: “It was a man and his wife and they were enquiring about their son. When I gave them the news the wife burst into floods of tears, but the man just sat motionless and went such a peculiar colour that I thought he was going to pass out on me. And that was good news. Imagine how it was when the news was bad.”