This telegram was sent by the Australian Red Cross Society to inform the mother of Lieutenant Penrod Dean that her son has been liberated and was no longer a prisoner of the Japanese. Dean had been captured during the fall of Singapore and was interned in both Changi and Outram prisons, the latter due to an escape attempt made in 1942.The Red Cross was an important organisation in terms of facilitating communication between prisoners of war (POWs) and their friends and family members back home. Over 58,000 Australian families learned of the fate of their loved ones through information provided by the Red Cross.
