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Information Circular No. 10
I believe this letter was the one that followed the New Year’s Eve telegram to the Farrar family that brought the news of their son George Edwin Farrar’s imprisonment by the German government.
A sample of Information Circular No. 10:
Headquarters Army Service Forces
Office of the Provost Marshal General
Washington 25, D. C.Information Circular No. 10
Germany, Hungary, Rumania, and BulgariaThe Prisoner of War Information Bureau, Office of the Provost Marshal General, receives and records the names of American prisoners of war and civilians reported interned by the Enemy Powers. It answers inquiries and furnishes available information concerning American prisoners of war and civilian internees to those interested.
The following information, subject to change, is substantially all that is available at this time.
TREATMENT AND CONDITION OF PRISONERS OF WAR – Reports received from neutral sources indicate that American prisoners of war interned by Germany, Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria are receiving fair treatment and these Governments are complying substantially with the terms of the Geneva Convention considering all the circumstances which accompany war. This convention requires each interment camp to have a properly equipped infirmary with adequate medical personnel in attendance. Prisoners of war must be medically examined at least once a month, and any who are ill must be given treatment. It requires also that notification concerning capture indicate fact of wounds or serious illness. The letter accompanying this circular gives all information in possession of the Bureau at this time. If no mention is made of health, wounds, or hospitalization, such matters were not mentioned in the cable received. If information of that nature is received, the emergency addressee and other interested persons will be notified promptly.
INSPECTION OF CAMPS – The Geneva Convention provides for the inspection of prisoner of war camps by representatives of the Protecting Power and delegates of the International Red Cross. If the representative or delegate finds grounds for complaint that cannot be settled at the time inspection is being made, he submits such complaints formally to the Detaining Power concerned. Since the Protecting Power and the International Red Cross act independently, there is double scrutiny of conditions in the camps. Reports of these inspections are forwarded periodically to this Bureau.
The document in its entirety:
Page 1 of Information Circular No. 10
Page 2 of Information Circular No. 10
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2014
New Year’s Eve Telegram
On New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1944, a telegram arrived at the Farrar household in Atlanta, Georgia. The news that George Edwin Farrar’s family had been waiting for had finally arrived. Their son was alive. He was a prisoner of war, but he was alive.
It had been ninety-five days, more than three months, since the September 28 mid-air collision between the Lead Banana, on which he was the waist gunner, and the Lazy Daisy. It was the first word any of the families of the boys in the crew had heard that one of their own was safe. As telegrams tended to be, it was short, but this one was oh so sweet.
The telegram reads:
Report just received through the International Red Cross states that your son Staff Sergeant George E Farrar is a Prisoner of War of the German Government. Letter of information follows from Provost Marshal General=
It was signed
Dunlop Acting the Adjutant General.
Farrar’s mother, Raleigh Mae Farrar, did not waste any time contacting the families of the other boys on the Busee crew to share the good news.
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2014
The Arrowhead Club 