Blood For Volcano Victims
p. 43 · Read in the full issue
From Our Brisbane Correspondent FOUR hundred Brisbane people gave blood on January 23 for victims in Papua of the Mt. Lamington volcano disaster. It was reported to be a record “bleed” for the Red Cross Blood Trans fusion Service which was set up in Bris bane in 1940.
About 750 blood donations were flown from the Brisbane city blood-bank on January 22 and 23 to Papua. The demand was twice that of any previous Australian tragedy.
A returned serviceman, Mr. I. Smith, of Rathdonnell Street, Auchenflower said that he gave his blood “to repay a seven year-old debt to New Guinea natives.”
Now an upholsterer, he was then a 42nd Battalion private. He was wounded near Salamaua and six natives carried him for 3i hours to the nearest beach. “I was saved because of them,” he said, “and re solved then that if I could ever repay the debt, I would.”
The Director of the Brisbane Blood Transfusion Service says that the per centage of deaths of victims of the New Guinea volcano disaster is higher than for any other catastrophe on record.