In the Echo articles regarding Benjamin Hopkins it says that POWs in Japan were able to communicate with their families in the United States. How was this done?
Allied prisoners were able to send postcards home from Japanese POW camps, although the delivery was very unreliable. Usually they were to tell family members that “they are fine and doing OK”. According to Daws (Prisoners of the Japanese, pages 128-129) it mentions that some standard message forms with four sentences plus space for a message (10 or 25, or 50 in deluxe version) were forwarded. The opportunity came randomly at long intervals. But, a circling of a “less sunny” option (e.g., “health poor” or “not improving” descreased the chances that it would be forwarded. Batches of cards might be dropped in a bag by air over Allied territory, or else used in camp as stuffing. It was used for propaganda purposes rather than for the benefit of the prisoners. (Thank you to John Wilson for this information.
Allied prisoners were able to send postcards home from Japanese POW camps, although the delivery was very unreliable. Usually they were to tell family members that “they are fine and doing OK”. According to Daws (Prisoners of the Japanese, pages 128-129) it mentions that some standard message forms with four sentences plus space for a message (10 or 25, or 50 in deluxe version) were forwarded. The opportunity came randomly at long intervals. But, a circling of a “less sunny” option (e.g., “health poor” or “not improving” descreased the chances that it would be forwarded. Batches of cards might be dropped in a bag by air over Allied territory, or else used in camp as stuffing. It was used for propaganda purposes rather than for the benefit of the prisoners.
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