Red Cross Blogs

How one man inspired millions

By Katrina Crew
May 8, 2010 at 10:00 am

Sixty-five years ago today, the Second World War ended in Europe. In the UK alone, hundreds of thousands of Red Cross volunteers helped their communities and wounded servicemen during the war years.

The war was fought on an unbelievable scale, but so was the relief effort. From packing and shipping parcels for prisoners of war, to providing first aid in London Underground stations used as bomb shelters, Red Cross volunteers played a crucial role.

They drove ambulances and searched battlefields for wounded survivors. They nursed convalescing soldiers in hospitals across the UK and wrote letters so men who had lost their arms could still keep in touch with their families.

(Here’s a lovely photo gallery so you can see some of their incredible work)

Believe it or not, it all started with one man’s vision. That tremendous movement of humanitarians wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for Henry Dunant, who, coincidentally, celebrates his 182nd birthday today. (That’s him to the right, with the world’s best mutton chops.)

Today we celebrate his birthday as World Red Cross Red Crescent Day, so wherever you’re reading this, your Red Cross or Red Crescent National Society may have events planned.

Although he’d been dead for nearly thirty years by the time the war broke out, back in the mid-ninteenth century he started the international Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, which grew into millions of volunteers worldwide by the 1930s.

Unless you’re a real history buff, you probably haven’t heard of Henry. He hasn’t made the history books like other humanitarians of his generation – Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton, for example – even though both Florence and Clara supported his work.

Henry happened to be on a business trip when he came across the bloody Battle of Solferino. Thousands of soldiers lay dying with no one to help them. He began organising local people to carry them into nearby churches where they could be cared for.

After the experience, he wrote a book, A Memory of Solferino, which he published himself and sent to leaders across Europe.

He wrote: “Oh, how valuable it would have been…to have had a hundred experienced and qualified voluntary orderlies and nurses! Such a group would have formed a nucleus around which could have been rallied the scanty help and dispersed efforts which needed competent guidance.”

Political and military leaders thought it was a great idea and began forming Red Cross relief societies in their countries. And from that one idea, we grew into millions of humanitarians across the world.

Happy birthday, Henry, and thank you for your tremendous legacy.

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Tags: conflict, Henry Dunant, history, Second World War

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