The marking of ambulances and hospitals is a practice which goes back a long time, but until the middle of the nineteenth century different colours were used by different countries: Austria a white flag, France a red one, Spain and the United States yellow, to mention a few examples. The devices displayed were not generally well known, so that they were seldom respected: it frequently happened that artillery shelled ambulances, that grapeshot riddled the waggons bearing the wounded but displaying no outward sign that their mission was one of mercy.

In March, three missions took the President of the ICRC, Mr. Alexandre Hay, to Iran, India and Poland.

Mr. Paul Carry, who was an honorary member of the International Committee of the Red Cross, died in Geneva on 30 March, after a short illness.

Mr. Roger Gallopin, former President of the ICRC Executive Board, has received the Swedish Red Cross Gold Royal Medal, the highest award conferred by that Society.

In its March 1977 issue, International Review described the emergency relief action carried out by the ICRC in Madagascar and the Comoros to help Comorian citizens who had been resident in Madagascar and who wished to get back or had just gone back to their homeland. At the end of January, ICRC aid in Madagascar was no longer needed, but in the Comoros, the medical delegate and nurse dispatched by the ICRC continued providing assistance during the whole of February.