tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post6758831085100991012..comments2023-11-03T09:36:22.100-04:00Comments on In From the Cold: Lone SurvivorGeorge Smileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07049707648660651119noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-68408315524782595582015-03-01T17:02:13.923-05:002015-03-01T17:02:13.923-05:00My uncle died on Peleliu in 1944, more than a deca...My uncle died on Peleliu in 1944, more than a decade before I was born. My mother and her family learned of his death in the manner you describe--a Western Union telegram, delivered by a local taxi driver. <br /><br />When that flood of notification telegrams began to pour into Bedford, the first batch was delivered by some of the town leaders, who gathered for coffee each morning in the drug store which also housed the Western Union office. Most of the men had never carried out such a terrible errand. Knowing what they faced, a local cabbie took one of the first telegrams that would go to a family in a rural area--and volunteered to deliver all the subsequent telegrams that arrived later in the day.<br /><br />During my military career, I was on casualty notification detail at two bases (in peacetime). WE still had to notify families in a specified geographic area in the event a service member from that region had been killed. Thankfully, the phone never rang when I was on duty. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12712369389411084085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-46396043118480951142015-02-28T13:00:35.560-05:002015-02-28T13:00:35.560-05:00My mom lost her brother in 1944 in France. At tha...My mom lost her brother in 1944 in France. At that time, Western Union telegrams were delivered by taxi cab drivers. Soon families began to dread the sight of taxi cabs coming down their streets. <br /><br />As for my mom, the first telegram said he was MIA, and then a few days later, KIA.<br /><br />Unimaginable for today.BADuBoishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13636112468577949243noreply@blogger.com