Letter to Phillip Matthews Mother from the British Red Cross Society and Order of St John of Jerusalem

Letter to Phillip Matthews Mother from the British Red Cross Society and Order of St John of Jerusalem

The letter expresses regret that their has been no news of her son. They explain that since the end of the war in Europe the military will now handle missing person enquiries.

1945-07-23

Three typewritten sheets and envelope

This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.

EAmpthillMMatthewsA450723

[crest of The British Red Cross Society] [crest of Order of St John of Jerusalem]

[postmark London 24 July 1945]

Mrs. A. Matthews,
87, Woodland Road,
Northfield,
Birmingham 31.

[page break]

WAR ORGANISATION OF THE BRITISH RED CROSS SOCIETY and ORDER OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM

[crest of The British Red Cross Society] [crest of Order of St. John of Jerusalem]

[underlined] WOUNDED, MISSING AND RELATIVES DEPARTMENT [/underlined]

7 BELGRAVE SQUARE,
LONDON, S.W.1.

Telephone No. SLOANE 9696

In replying please quote reference:
VC/DA/RAF/C.15425

July 23rd 1945.

Dear Mrs. Matthews,

We have received your letter of July 20th in which you make an enquiry for your son, Flight Sergeant P.M. Matthews, No. 1204048.

We do so well understand the distress caused by lack of definite news in such tragic circumstances as yours, and we regret very deeply that no more exact information has come to us. As you probably know, we have been entirely dependant on reports sent to us by the Germans, through the International Red Cross Committee at Geneva, and we have had no means of enforcing the despatch of more detailed information when these reports were incomplete.

We must now explain, however, that with the end of the war in Europe, enquiries connected with the loss of our aircraft have passed out of the hands of the Red Cross and have become the duty of the military and air authorities.

P.T.O.

[page break]

We think you will be glad to hear that the Air Ministry has set up a Missing Research and Enquiry Service on the Continent, in the hope of procuring, through the help of local people, all possible particulars about the circumstances of a disaster, the fate of missing members of the crew, and the last resting places of those who have lost their lives.

We would therefore advise you to write to:-

The Air Ministry,
P.4. Casualty Branch,
73-77, Oxford Street,
London W.1.

giving all the particulars in your possession, as these may help the officials who are making the investigations.

With regard to your suggestion that your son may have lost his memory we fear we have been informed that there are no known cases of airmen suffering from loss of memory who are unidentified, but there again the Air Ministry will be able to give you the latest details.

[page break]

Please believe how grieved we are that we cannot ourselves do more to help you and accept our deepest sympathy in your distress, with our earnest hope that some further information concerning your son may be obtained before long.

Yours sincerely,

[signature]
Chairman.

Mrs. A. Matthews,
87, Woodland Road,
Northfield,
Birmingham 31.