Red Cross Services for Military Families

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Permalink Reply by Bill Penrod on October 23, 2014 at 11:13am

In the event of a death in the Sailor's immediate family due auto accident the Red Cross will usually contact the Sailor's Command so the CO and Chaplain can make a personal notification. Later I tell my Red Cross story..................

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Permalink Reply by Jeanne Carmichael on October 23, 2014 at 12:16pm

The Red Cross will always support our Sailors and their families with these emergency messages concerning immediate family members.  We'd love to hear your story and this sailor's family has our condolences.  Is this a story we can share on our Red Cross blog?

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Permalink Reply by Bill Penrod on October 24, 2014 at 10:57am

Red Cross Volunteers.  While serving on the Hospital Ship Sanctaury  we had two Red Cross ladies assigned to our ship.  These two were truly Angels.  They visited the severely wounded Soldiers and Marines these guys were really messed up but these ladies were there for them every day.  They wrote letters home for those unable to write be due to loss of limbs or blindness or yes some wounds even worse. These Soldiers would say "I met some one else so I'll be staying overseas"  of course the Red Cross Lady letter read like this "Sweetheart, I can't wait to be home to be in your embrace. We  will have some hard times but we can work through them."  I hope that this program continued through the ages because our wounded needed them during their worse times. Lots of love, hugs and tears in the Vietnam era......

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Permalink Reply by Jeanne Carmichael on October 24, 2014 at 11:43am

Bill, thank you for sharing your story and thank you for your service. It's always wonderful to hear how the Red Cross has been able to connect military families, especially during such difficult and stressful times. We're just thankful that the Red Cross is still able to provide such valuable assistance to today's military families. 

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Permalink Reply by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on October 24, 2014 at 12:25pm

And yes. the system works!  When my daughter was in A-school, '06, my mom passed away....Red Cross got her the message and she arranged for leave to come out and help me deal. If you need to get a message to your sailor call the Red Cross.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Penrod on December 3, 2014 at 1:45pm

We were stationed in Okinawa 1978-82. My wife, a Filipina, mother was killed in a tricycle accident in the Philippines. Her sister contacted the ARC at Subic Bay and really butchered the information required to notify the next of kin.  The Red Cross assigned our case to the Air Force Office at Kadena AFB, Okinawa. The Red Cross Worker named Red called me and asked if I was married to a Filipina. I said then he explained that he had called every command on Okinawa, the Air Force, the several Marine Corps Commands and finally he called the Navy.  This guy named Red spent three days trying to contact my wife. My wife's sister English was not great but Red was tasked with finding us and he did.  So we are forever indebted to the Red Cross for this act of kindness.  

Note: Tricycle is a motorized tricycle for hire.

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