Both Norman ("Jim") Archibald and his older sister Hazel served in France during World War I. Norman was a lieutenant with the 95th Aero Squadron, U. S. Army, in September 1918 when his SPAD biplane fighter aircraft was shot down behind enemy lines and he was taken prisoner by the Germans. A month later, Hazel, a talented pianist and songwriter, joined the American Red Cross in Paris and worked as an entertainer in the Red Cross Hospital Hut Service. Hazel continually sought information on the condition and whereabouts of her brother, finally reuniting with him in Tours, France, two months later.
In October 1918, Douglas Stewart, Assistant Director of the American Red Cross Bureau of Prisoners Relief, sent this letter to Silas Archibald informing him that his son, Norman, was being held as a prisoner of war in Karlsruhe, Germany, and that he is not wounded.
Caption information source: The Seattle Times, September 23, 1975, p. 52.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. View the finding aid for this collection at https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv98190
Credit: MOHAI, Norman Archibald and Hazel Archibald Draper Papers, 2009.3.4.1.1
