House of Commons Canada
Box 880
Victoria, B.C.

November 15, 1944

Mrs. E. Nelson,
722 Kings Road,
Victoria, B.C.

Dear Mrs. Nelson:

This will acknowledge your letter of the 13th inst., regarding your son.

Of course, you will understand that when a soldier is missing, and taken prisoner, that the Government loses all contact with him, until he is finally discovered by the Red Cross, which is an international organization, and the only organization allowed to visit prisoner camps. They are not permitted to send their information out through the Government, but must send it direct to the relatives of the boy in prison. Therefore, the Government, in this case, would probably not get the information as quickly as you would.

However, I have written the Records Branch, and asked them for an explanation.

Yours truly,

R.W. Mayhew