Not only have the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) released on-line many of their First World War period records covering prisoners of war, but also the Royal Air Force Museum have digitised their collection of 'casualty cards' (and related records) for the same conflict. Here is an example of how these two sets of records can work together. The release of these records is an exciting development, making it much easier to research individual servicemen - in this context, particularly prisoners of war and internees - from the comfort of your own home. For this example I am using the case of Lieutenant William Reid of the Royal Flying Corps, who was the first victim of the German air ace Max Immelman.

Here is some exciting news from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from earlier this year. You can read more about the role of the ICRC in connection with prisoners of war in the First World War here on my website. To quote directly from the ICRC's press release, which you can also read on their website here.

"The archives of the International Prisoners-of-War Agency will be available for consultation by the public in August 2014, through an online application."

The image on the left shows an oil painting made by a British former prisoner of war (PoW) who was interned at Mürren in Switzerland. It was kindly sent to me by James Gordon-Cumming. You can see James' interesting website on trench art here: www.trenchart.co.uk. 

James bought the painting at auction about five years ago, and little is known about its prior history. However it does have some writting and a paper label on the back, stating that it was painted by  Private A. Price (or Prise?) who was interned at Mürren, Switzerland.