Debby Van SiekL, age 10, of Via, xinW, for her question:

How was the Red Cross started?

The merciful idea was born when a visitor from Switzerland passed through a horrifying battlefield in northern Italy. His name was Jean genrl Dunaut and the year was 1859. It was the day after 44,000 Italian and invading Austrian soldiers had been killed or wounded in a furious clash. In those dreadful days. the life of a soldier was not given much value stud nobody seemed to care whether the wounded recovered. Duasnt was shocked and deeply moved by the wounded men left there to suffer an that terrible battlefield. And he made up his mind to do' something  about it'.

He reported the cruel story to civilized peoples re-wrote a booklet to get more people interested in doing something to help all soldiers wounded in battle.  ¬At last, in August 1864, at a meeting in Switzerland, delegates from 12 European countries signed the Geneva Convention. This international organization of volunteers pledged to assist all suffering humanity in times of war and also peace. The flag of Switzerland is red with a white cross. To honor Dunaut's homeland. a white flag with a red cross was chosen and almost at once the new organization was called the International Red :Cross.