Most lists do not mention him as a formal member. Perhaps this is because he was elected director while he had been travelling and before he returned to Nanjing. These individuals are not to be confused with the members of the International Red Cross Committee of Nanking, which did similar work. Its 17 members included Robert O. Wilson, an American doctor at Drum Tower Hospital of Nanking University Hospital, James McCallum, an American missionary at the same institution, and Minnie Vautrin, an American missionary at Ginling Girls' College. Activities When Nanjing fell, the Nanking Safety Zone housed over 250,000 refugees. The committee members of the Zone found ways to provide these refugees with the basic needs of food, shelter, and medical care. Whenever Japanese soldiers entered the Zone, they were closely shadowed by one of the Westerners. The Westerners repeatedly refused to comply with demands made of them by Japanese Army soldiers, placing themselves between Japanese soldiers and Chinese civilians. Committee members frequently contacted Consul-General Okazaki Katsuo, Second Secretary (later Acting Consul-General) Fukui Kiyoshi and Attaché Fukuda Tokuyasu to deal with the anarchic situation. M. Searle Bates Miner Searle Bates was one of the leaders of the committee and worked to secure the safety of the population of Nanjing. This task was dangerous and his life was put at risk on many occasions, most notably when he was shoved down a flight of stairs by Japanese military police after inquiring about the fate of a student who had been abducted by Japanese soldiers. According to the testimony of Bates before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, he visited the Japanese embassy daily for the next three weeks after first protesting there against Japanese atrocities. He testified that the Japanese authorities appeared to him to be "honestly trying to do what little they could in a bad situation". However, as Bates testified, the embassy officials were themselves terrified by the military and could do nothing except forward these communications through Shanghai to Tokyo. Robert O. Wilson Along with John Rabe and Minnie Vautrin, Robert O. Wilson was instrumental in the establishment of the Nanjing Safety Zone. He was the sole surgeon responsible for treating the victims of the ongoing atrocities. The selfless work of Dr. Wilson and his associates saved the lives of countless civilians and POWs who would have otherwise perished at the hands of the aggressors. Role