Hospital equipment was provided at Pier No. 2 for any women and children who were unfit to travel after landing from boat, or whose husbands were military patients and could not proceed. Often their luggage was not obtainable, and the Red Cross was called upon to supply such necessaries as infants’ outfits, women’s pyjamas and bath robes, towels, soap, combs, hot water bottles, medicines, etc.
In March when the Canadian Government decided to send the hospital ships to Portland, Maine, instead of Halifax, Col. Noel Marshall requested that a Committee of our Port Workers should inaugurate the work at the new port. Mrs. W. T. Allen, Mrs. J. L. Hetherington and Mrs. F. B. McCurdy accordingly proceeded to Portland and very satisfactory arrangements were made whereby the Canadian Red Cross continued to fit ships with hospital stores, while the American Red Cross very courteously and generously provided canteen facilities and served refreshments to all the wounded.
Perhaps no department of the Red Cross has developed more enthusiasm or been more splendidly supported than the work of Prisoners’ Relief. From a very small beginning it grew to be work of great importance, and one in which the people of Nova Scotia have abundantly shown their practical interest. It did not draw upon the general Red Cross Funds but appealed for a special offering from the public or from friends of men who were prisoners of war and found a most gratifying response, no less than $41,448 having been contributed for this special purpose.
Approximately 270 Canadian prisoners of war in forty-one different internment camps in Germany were maintained wholly or in part through the kindness of the people of Nova Scotia, at a cost per head of $10 per month. Almost all these men were “adopted” by friends or societies; that is, such persons or societies agreed to pay a certain sum per month towards their maintenance, two dollars and fifty cents having been fixed as the minimum amount. The name and address of the adopted was given to the man, and his name, number and prison address to the adopter, and letters and cards were exchanged between them, often arousing a deep personal interest on the one hand and a sense of gratitude and appreciation on the other.
Mrs. Archibald and Miss Ritchie were brought in close contact with the homes and families of prisoners of war. The amount of correspondence was very considerable, and the system used entailed a lot of bookkeeping. The name and number of each man, date of capture, prison camp and any details that could be gathered were registered on a card index. The name of the “adopter” was also registered both here and with the Prisoners of War Department in London.
MRS. W. M‘K. M‘LEOD.
MISS CLARA DENNIS.
Close touch was kept with the Department of “Missing Men,” conducted in London and in a few instances it was possible to convey reassuring news to sorrow-stricken friends of the “missing men,” although, too often, it became necessary to deprive them of the hope they so touchingly clung to. Yet even the bad news was softened somewhat by details of the death or capture of a man, obtained under the system inaugurated by Lady Drummond of “Searchers” in hospitals who sought out wounded men of the same Platoon or Battalion of the person enquired for. These men, if able to write, would themselves send a few words telling when and where they had seen their less fortunate comrades. Even these meagre details were of some comfort to the mourning ones. Some of the heart-broken letters received were very hard to reply to, but when news was good and food parcels arrived safely showers of “acknowledgment cards” flowed in; and when, as often happened, the mail brought a personal letter from some grateful mother or a few words from some of the poor boys behind barbed wire “somewhere in Germany,” or when a rapturous letter came from some poor fellow transferred from his prison as “totally unfit” and sent to the free air of Switzerland, the ladies conducting this Department felt more than happy in being permitted to participate in such a work of mercy. Mrs. Archibald, Miss Ritchie, and their co-workers possessed in no small degree the confidence of the prisoners’ friends throughout the Province and deeply appreciated their attitude toward them and their loyalty and patience with the many unavoidable delays and mistakes.