Families of World War II are notified of a soldier's death through telegram. Most telegrams were delivered by Western Union due to the fact they monopolized the telegraph industry. The telegram is often personally delivered to the families by a local official, someone who works for Western Union, or someone from the army. The army messengers who entered different towns usually went to the police for directions; so often news would spread fast that another soldier had died. As seen in the movie, Saving Private Ryan, when a car pulls up to your house and an official gets out it is often bad news. Even the messengers became emotional at the thought of delivering the news.
The first telegram to be sent out was like a form letter or as i called it an "insert name here" telegram which was very impersonal. I found this out through research of my soldiers due to the fact that both telegrams sent to the Bennino family were practically identical. A typical telegram to the family provides minimal information besides notification of their death. It basically states the soldier’s name, rank, and date of death as well as gives condolences to the family from the Secretary of War. There’s little information on how they died. They’re told a letter will follow. This leaves families wondering for days the details of how their soldier died. For some not knowing becomes extremely painful to cope with. Telegrams may also include a statement such as: “*To prevent possible aid to our enemies please do not divulge the name of his ship or station.“ As you can see it was still crucial to be careful about releasing information. At some point, families then receive another letter providing even more details. Telling the family how the soldier died brings some closure to their loss of a loved one.
The first telegram to be sent out was like a form letter or as i called it an "insert name here" telegram which was very impersonal. I found this out through research of my soldiers due to the fact that both telegrams sent to the Bennino family were practically identical. A typical telegram to the family provides minimal information besides notification of their death. It basically states the soldier’s name, rank, and date of death as well as gives condolences to the family from the Secretary of War. There’s little information on how they died. They’re told a letter will follow. This leaves families wondering for days the details of how their soldier died. For some not knowing becomes extremely painful to cope with. Telegrams may also include a statement such as: “*To prevent possible aid to our enemies please do not divulge the name of his ship or station.“ As you can see it was still crucial to be careful about releasing information. At some point, families then receive another letter providing even more details. Telling the family how the soldier died brings some closure to their loss of a loved one.
In the case of our two soldiers, we found it odd that the telegrams came a few weeks after their death. Our first soldier died June 24th, but his family didn’t get the telegram until July 31st, , more than a month later. Then only 3 weeks later after the first telegram the family received a second telegram stating that their second son had died. In that case, two army people went to the police station for directions to the family’s home and the police chief, who was a cousin of the family, went to deliver the news. According to our soldiers’ family, when the mother received the telegram she screamed so loudly it could be heard in the center of town. Instantly, people began racing to the home and within minutes cars lined the streets. I can’t imagine that moment where in a few seconds your life is changed forever.