Thursday, October 2, 2014

The 1951 Red Cross Fund




This postcard promoted the 1951 American National Red Cross Fund. Judging by the printing on the back, it seems to have been distributed to military personnel. The image is a sepia copy of an illustration by Norman Rockwell.

The United States and many other countries were involved in the Korean War in 1951. This was a war between North and South Korea, in which a United Nations force led by the United States of America fought for the South, and China fought for the North, also assisted by the Soviet Union. The war arose from the division of Korea at the end of World War II and from the global tensions of the Cold War that developed immediately afterwards. (source: Wikipedia)

In the first video below actress Tallulah Bankhead remembers American Red Cross founder Clara Barton on Easter Sunday, March 25th 1951 and reads a letter of thanks sent to the Red Cross by a soldier wounded in the Korean War.




The next video, One Year in Korea (1951), tells the story of  the 1950-51 United Nations fight against North Korean aggression. I found this video interesting, because I didn't really know anything about the Korean War.




For More Vintage Images

http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2014/09/sepia-saturday-248-4-october-2014.html

13 comments:

  1. Bless the Red Cross for their assistance in so many ways - not only during a war, but anywhere there is a need for medical help - in the wake of fires, floods, tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, or any other disasters - natural or otherwise!

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  2. Amen to what La Nightingail said.

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  3. The video brought back vivid memories of the Korean War. But we still fight pointless wars of one sort or another; no country seems to learn the futility of them all.

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  4. The Red Cross seems to always turn up following a natural disaster. I don't know much about what they do besides blood drives at other times.

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  5. The Red Cross! The sign for Red Cross (in American Sign Language) involves making the letter "R" with your right hand and moving it over your forehead in a cross pattern...meant to invoke the Red Cross on the cap...

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    1. How about "evoke" rather than invoke?
      Yikes...sorry!

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  6. It pains me to see defence spelt with an "s" ! I was thinking how well done the postcard was - T should have thought Norman Rockwell but I needed you to remind me.

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  7. War time posters convey such potent images of the times. I msut admit I know very little about the Korean War, though I was aware that Britain was involved. Thank you for the map link to that informative video.

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  8. A good choice with the Rockwell and uniform link.

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  9. I agree, good choice. Norman Rockwell must have been flavour of the month back then!

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