Missing, Wounded and Prisoners of War

There are almost 60,000 war index cards in the Archives at the University of Melbourne, and they make for stark reading. They hold details of investigations into the lives of missing or wounded soldiers and prisoners of war during the Second World War, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

These cards speak to the compassion and commitment of the volunteers and the heartbreak of the families left at home. The Red Cross also ensured that prisoners of war were supplied with food parcels and medical care.

Find out more:

[UMA listing] Archives Series 2016.0049: Missing, Wounded and Prisoner of War Enquiry Cards

[UMA blog] ‘A Humane and Intimate Administration’: The Red Cross’ World War Two Wounded, Missing and Prisoner of War Cards

Men using machinery to assist in the stacking Red Cross parcels in a barn

Men working in a barn stacking Red Cross parcels, c.1940

Prisoner of War Camp: British officers at Oflag camp [unidentified] gathererd around a trolley of Red Cross parcels

Prisoner of War Camp: British officers at Oflag camp [unidentified] gathered around a trolley of Red Cross parcels, 17 September 1941

Letter of thanks from British POW to Red Cross for parcels

A letter of thanks for parcels from a British POW to the Red Cross, c.1940

Red Cross workers calculating POW capture cards using a Hollerith Machine, one of six owned by the ICRC, c.1940