Red Cross Letters

[Andrew P]

Greetings

Just thought I would let readers know that the Australian War Memorial has scanned the Red Cross files for the missing and that they are now accessible on their website. This is a huge bonus for researchers who can't get to Canberra to research this type of material.

It also makes for heartbreaking reading. Two brothers that I'm researching, who came from Fremantle in Western Australia were both killed on the first day at Anzac Cove. Their mother was not informed that they were officially dead till a year later as there were conflicting reports from wounded soldiers that both the brothers were seen in hospital which unfortunately was never the case.

One is buried in the small Baby 700 Cemetery, part of the ridge that was only in our possession for a time on the first day, and the other brother was never found but was most likely killed in areas of the battlefield which were never reached after the first day.

Regards

Andrew

[Paul Reed]

Thanks for letting us know about this - as you say, this will be a most useful resource.

Do you have a URL for this site?

[Terry_Reeves]

Several years ago I had the pleasure of being able to return a personal diary and photograph album to the family of an officer of the South Staffordshire Regt who had survived the war.

The diary revealed the existance of two other brothers, one of whom was killed accidently and the other killed at Arras in 1917 and who, as it turned out, had no known grave. The family had two special albums made up in the immediate post-war years, to commemmorate the two dead officers.

Amongst the papers of the Arras casualty was a reply from the Red Cross to the dead man's family who had clearly asked them to investigate the circumstances of his death. From the Red Cross letter, it was obvious that they had gone to considerable trouble to contact men from the officers platoon, two of whom were able to give a detailed description of the action and the circumstances of the officers demise. I'm sure there must be other letters in existence in the UK that formed the basis for The British Red Cross and Order of St John Enquiry List - 1917.

Terry Reeves

[BRIAN TALMER]

Hi Andrew , Paul and Terry

Try www.awm.gov.au/database/1drl428.asp

Will let you search the site .

Hope this helps

Cheers

Brian Talmer

[Andrew P]

Cheers Brian.

I should have added that these Red Cross files can only be viewed in PDF Format. If you don't have acess to this format, the AWM has a link that will let you download the Adobe Acrobat, through which you'll be able to view them.