hi
im doing some research for my story and i need to know if a man died at the end of the first world war would another soldier go to his wifes house to tell her?
also can you say what would happen when they visited?
✅ Answers
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Depends on the country and local resources.
In the UK most of the time the family got a “We regret to inform you…” telegram.
Ditto for the USA. Telegrams so became associated with bad news, so much so that telegram companies invented the “singing” telegram.
Chances favor that the wife got the bad news telegram first. Then perhaps a soldier would go by, especially if he was a friend of the dead man.
http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-asstd/document…
“In the case of death the next of kin was notified by an urgent (pink) telegram. A telegram was a telegraphic message sent from one Post Office to another and then written or typed onto a flimsy sheet of paper, enclosed in an envelope and delivered by a boy on a bicycle. The sight of the Telegram Boy approaching was feared and hated. Later a letter from the King would arrive (sometimes) with a Dead Man’s Penny. That took years and the practice stopped before all The Fallen were honoured.”
Source(s): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singing_telegram
http://www.galenpress.com/_toc.html
yes, they’d deliver a letter explaining he died in the line of duty and he would usually be accompanied by a priest, etc.
Source(s): my time in the military and learning about traditions
Yes.