This CONTENTS SUMMARY

may be used as a five-minute talk

HE American Red Cross stood shoulder to
shoulder with our fighting forces in the past
twelve months and extended more hands to
help than could ever be counted. These hands
lifted loads of worry and fear—or just plain
: J boredom—from the hearts of men in our mili-
tary and naval hospitals on land and sea. Red Cross hos-
pital social workers, with understanding skill, resolved
worries that retard a man’s recovery, while recreation
workers and Gray Ladies, with music, movies, games, and
banter, relieved homesickness.

Other Red Cross hands assisted discharged, disabled men
through readjustment to civilian life—a growing task.

Still other hands offered a quick, competent “lift” to
able-bodied soldiers in personal difficulties.

Many extended an American welcome at clubs and other
Red Cross facilities to our airmen, soldiers, sailors, marines,
coast guardsmen, nurses, and Wacs in foreign lands. Others
brought refreshment and entertainment to men at iso-
lated stations by clubmobiles and in aeroclubs.

They helped collect millions of pints of blood for life-
saving plasma. They worked at packing those heartening
prisoner of war cartons which other Red Cross hands car-
ried, with clothing, medicines, and other necessities, to
prison camps in enemy countries.

Many thousands of nurses were recruited by the Red
Cross for service in the Army and Navy Nurse Corps. A
hundred thousand volunteer nurse’s aides served in vet-
erans’ and civilian hospitals. Gray Ladies and hospital
visitors specialized in bringing cheer to army, navy, and
veterans’ hospital wards. Dietitian’s aides volunteered for
civilian hospital work.

Red Cross production workers made hundreds of mil-
lions of surgical dressings, knitted sweaters and other com-
fort articles as officially requested by the armed forces,
sewed millions of relief garments, and sewed and packed

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