These telegrams were a callous and impersonal method of informing a family that a soldier was “missing.” This one was received by Ernie’s wife, Donalda, on August 13, 1944, who then had to inform their daughter Ann—who was four years old at the time—as well as Ernie’s parents, and the siblings he had reconnected with.
It was assumed that the worst had happened and that he’d been killed . . . but certainly the hope remained that that had not occurred. Meantime, his army wages were suspended, and his insurance policy was not paid out.
It was only in 1945, after Bert Hearnden and Murray Reid had been released as POWs and could confirm Ernie’s death, that Ernie’s wife and family received official notification that he had been killed in action.
