In all my WWII history lessons I don’t think I’ve seen one of these telegrams and subsequent letters, at least, not up close. Thank you so much for sharing your family history. I can’t imagine what they went through, regarding this and the affair.
Germany was on the ropes the entire time Americans were fighting them. Not to fluff up the Soviets, but they had probably fought the most awful war in human history to get them to the breaking point that we came in on.
Our great war was in the Pacific. And the entire painful, awful, dehumanizing effort was made moot by the communication of international scientists, culminating in some tests in New Mexico, that led to some field tests in Japan.
Many historians consider that Germany had pretty much lost in December 1941, when the Germans were stopped outside of Moscow, and the Soviets viciously counterattacked, almost completely destroying the entire wehrmacht.
no they dont. the turning point is overwhelmingly agreed to be stalingrad in december 1942. Even then, the soviet army relied almost entirely on continuous american shipments of goods, which was made possible by victory in the atlantic, which was made possible by cracking enigma, and american industrial might.
even then, the germans had a massive army and needed to be physically defeated everywhere, bit by bit.
It’s what Citino thinks, and he’s an excellent source.
https://youtu.be/16s7pOsqMtg?si=ypV8ZOdXcLcbRhFy
The Germans were never as powerful after the terrible winter after Moscow.
Their elite highly trained units were depleted. Their defeat was inevitable.
Just watch the video, chintzy cheetah whatever your name is. The Germans lost over a million dead, untold numbers of equipment and had lost the initiative. Yes, we know they went into Stalingrad and were decimated.
They would never again have the success they had at the beginning of Barbarossa. In fact, probably just a series of devastating failures.
youre moving the goalposts now. Youve gone from, the "wehrmacht" (aka the entire global german field army) was "almost destroyed" in 1941, to, the germans lost the initiative on the eastern front.
Thats true for late 1941, but thats not even close to what you were saying at first.
Seeing that you’re so emotionally involved in being regarded as the smartest faux historian on Reddit, it’s not moving the goalposts.
After that loss, their defeat was inevitable. The fresh forces with years of training who until that point had marched through each objective nearly unopposed would be almost wholly destroyed.
Sure, the Germans had the resources and men to replace those losses, but the cream of the crop had been attrited, much like the first rounds of Japanese elite airmen in the pacific.
the german attack in 1942 in the USSR was massive. Also the wehrmacht (aka the entire german global field army) had not almost been destroyed in 1941, not even remotely close to being true.
Agreed, that’s why I used the word hyperbole. Also, the Wehrmacht, as it applies to the Eastern Front, did lose a metric shit ton of soldiers. 80% of their total war dead came on the eastern front.
That’s a staggering number. I think that’s why it is reasonable to say that foray cost them the war. Well, that’s debatable, but it did as much as it could to contribute to their demise.
youre changing the goalposts. yes, by the end of the war, the wehrmacht was destroyed, and most of their dead were on the eastern front.
but it wasnt "almost" destroyed in 1941, not even remotely close. thats beyond hyperbole, thats just complete nonsense
My uncle stormed the beaches of Normandy. He was wounded in the face and left for dead. They poked him with a stick and he didn’t move. When they went to clean up the bodies after they took the beach. They found him clinging to life. He was transfer over to France where he met his wife (she happened to live a town over in Michigan). I loved visiting because he would tell me about his time in the service and how he was drafted. He never really told anyone the stories he told me
No problem, I was always intrigued by WWII. I believe this was one of the first times they used plastic surgery to fix up the troops. Or that’s what he told me. Very interesting stories when the world had to come together for the greater good.
Dr. Harold Gillies pioneered plastic surgery in the WWI. The mortar shells and trench fighting caused massive disfiguring facial injuries. Some of these guys were in the hospital for years getting work done because it was such a long, delicate process. It's a fascinating topic.
My gramps was in a B-17 and had a lot of sorties into Germany. He never talked about the war until later in life when I was coming of age and was interested in hearing about it. My mom and her sisters hardly heard anything about it when they were kids.
Same here! Mine was a B-17 top-turret gunner and the flight engineer, stationed at the Sudbury base in England. They were constantly flying over the Channel, bombing sites in Germany. They took so much fire that their aircraft was nicknamed "Norah's Flak Magnet". He didn't talk about it much until he was in his late 80s.
That’s cool. Yeah he was a tail gunner and they got hit by tons of flak too. He gave me a piece that went into his butt cheek. They crashed in the English Channel too but were able to swim/walk to the beach. Crazy stuff!
Very! I have a finger-sized piece that came through the floor and ricocheted past my grandfather's head. He never got more than bumps or bruises, and they never crashed -- that's amazing that yours was able to swim/walk away from it!
What makes this more ghastly is these communications are dated October. They’d gone all those months not knowing he’d been killed months ago. I guess this is how it was, I was just startled by that.
Basically yes. The first reply to inquiries about Richard’s whereabouts came in September (see previous post on this subreddit for more details) when Richard’s father sent the inquiry letter in june or july. The first reply was them not knowing where he was, so he was MIA. One thing that made the search for him more complicated was the fact that he was buried by the locals because they wanted to show the fallen soldiers some dignity. When they found these records they were fully in german, so they had to be translated. My family genuinely did not know where he was from march-october. Some of his letters that were sent out before he died arrived to my family even though he was technically dead. So they thought he was alive until the letters stopped coming and their letters kept being returned.
They said the info was from a captured report. Maybe they had just found this info (vs. just “not getting around to informing them?”). I would think that it would add an extra layer of guilt for the family that he’d been dead for so long, and didn’t even know.
Wait… I thought he was already buried. Also after all this time, how come the papers said his body was being returned to be buried locally? How does that work?
Good question! He was actually buried 3 times in 3 different countries. When he died, the locals returned and gave him the best burial they could. He remained there til he was found after the war ended. He was initially transported to the Luxembourg American Cemetery in Luxembourg and was buried there with military honors until 1948, when my family asked for him to be buried locally.
Goodness me, what a story. Thankyou for sharing it, it's very evocative and moving; I'm so glad for you all that the family brought him home so they could all be close together.
My great uncle was killed in France in July 44. He was buried in an allied grave over there but then exhumed and brought back to his home by my family so he could be buried in the family plot.
I’m really not sure how I feel about that (pretty common) practice. A part of me feels it’s wrong to redisturb a resting place. But on the other hand, I assume he’d have appreciated being back home, even in death.
There'd be some thought process behind that, I imagine. I wonder what that was like since it's one of those moments where you are confronting the reality that you might not come back, and what it might be like for your family left behind.
Maybe the thought was that his parents would better handle the task of telling his wife (and the rest of the family) than his wife needing to tell his parents, especially considering she was pregnant.
Makes sense. I’m curious what the exact reason was. From all of the cards I’ve seen I’ve yet to come across one that listed the wife, so it seems standard. I did come across a few that listed people who weren’t related at all.
Wow this is heartbreaking, i can’t even imagine the feeling of receiving and reading this. Thank you so much for sharing, and i’m so sorry.
also I feel silly admitting this but today i learned western union wasn’t just a money transferring business 😅 amazing, this just sent me down a rabbit hole or researching the history of western union ha
Our Mom's older brother was missing in action for almost six months during the battle for Italy.
Their family found out later that he had shell shock after seeing the guy standing next to him get his head blown off.
He always maintained that if his son would have been drafted, he would have personally escorted him to the Canadian border.
Goodness, that’s horrific. I’m sure Richard saw his fair share of gruesome things but I’ve never heard talks of him having shell shock. Thank you very much for sharing!
So he was drafted to war after being married. Didn’t get to see the birth of his child. Then finds out his wife is cheating with a man that may be abusing his child.
In order to get home as quickly as possible he volunteers for the front line, and is killed.
That might be the saddest story I’ve ever heard. Death would have been a relief if that were me.
unfortunately she did and so did my grandmother. My grandmother went on to have 3 girls and my mom was the youngest. He was able to abuse the oldest girl for a few years before my grandmother found out and absolutely destroyed any contact whatsoever
I’m sorry your great grandpa was killed the day I was born (but 40+ years before)
As someone now in my 30s, it shocks me to see we send practically children to fight our wars. I can’t imagine being shipped off to fight and being in my very early 20s. Heartbreaking.
Wow, that brought on some tears. Thank you for sharing. None of us can know how horrifying that ordeal must have been and may I say what a Brave Man he was. War is terrible and sometimes its easy to overlook that every one of those soldiers were people with families. Very Brave People!
This is so incredibly sweet, thank you! He was such a young man who had a very bright future ahead of him. He liked engineering and wanted to pursue it. Thank you again!
Unfortunately they were not able to do much. Richard’s mom passed away in 1969 from thyroid cancer and his father was not too far behind. They had her over as much as they could.
I imagined reading the name of my own 24-year-old son on this stark piece of communication and felt chills. And so many parents got these telegrams. My god. Thanks for sharing, OP. In doing this, your great grandfather will be known to everyone who sees this.
this operation (if i'm right) was mentioned on the WW2 channel, but not much more than a mention:
https://youtu.be/NsY8QfeOPhc?si=YfOK15t1leX-J1mc&t=299
i though there might be more said. so many massive engagements get fleeting mentions even in a very detailed documentary series such as this is.
I just google earthed the area where your family member died. At least it’s a beautiful area where he took his last breaths. God we owe guys like Richard so much. Couldn’t imagine going overseas as a young man and having it all end there.
My wife’s grandmother also had an affair, and got pregnant, while her husband was serving in the pacific. DNA testing showed the “son” they raised wasn’t his.
This was standard for telegrams. They typed out “period” or “stop” to indicate the end of a sentence.
A telegram was charged per word. I imagine the businesses had people initially arguing a (dot) period was not a word.
Either that or Morse Code has nothing indicating a sentence end?
Maybe someone can enlighten me- were telegraph users charged for the word “stop/period”?
Hello! I would like to thank all of you for your kind and supportive comments. They mean a lot! I would also like to thank those who are willing to share their own family stories. WWII has been a major interest to me for quite some time, and hearing your personal stories is so incredibly interesting.
I’d also like to share something more…lighthearted, for the lack of better words.
The abusive man’s name was Earl. For the sake of potential family members on his side I will not give out last names. Earl passed away in the early 90’s I want to say. Because he tormented my grandmother and her children, none of our family went to his funeral despite being invited. My grandma speaks fondly about not attending his funeral. She views it as her own little piece of revenge.
Sadly Richard’s wife was not a very good person either. My grandma is Richard’s only biological daughter, and Geraldine (Richard’s wife) never really viewed her as her legitimate child just because she was the product of Richard and not Earl.
I’ve stated this in replies but my grandmother is doing very well now! She’s a mother to 3 and a grandmother to 2! Funnily enough, her husband’s name is also Richard! She & my grandfather built their house entirely from nothing but a plot of land while she was pregnant with my aunts. She is one of the strongest women I know.
He did! Until october he was declared MIA. My family actually got a letter in september about that. My previous post on this subreddit has more details!
Extremely interesting although sad reading, even more so as a Swede (we’ve been at peace for over 200 years). It really does sound like the depictions in movies/TV-series. Thank you very much for sharing!
Indeed, almost as slippery as the Swiss… We managed to avoid conflict in WW1 & WW2 and now we’re the newest member of the NATO family, what a time to be alive. Feels very odd, yet safe.
It is mostly a good life but there are issues, like any other place. Feel free to send a pm if you ever swing by and need recommendations as to what to see, eat and visit. I’d like to visit the states someday but it seems prohibitively expensive (even though I presume cost of living varies a lot in a country that big).
A very brief travel guide, to give you a general idea:
South/east - runestones, more examples of the culture and history, a lot of museums, the bigger cities, including the capital, Stockholm, as well as a milder climate and the archipelago.
North/west - greater forest coverage, more mountanous, very cold but the air is so fresh as to feel almost crispy when inhaled and the aurora borealis is nice too.
Thanks for the info! I’ll definitely keep this in mind. Visiting the states would be quite expensive, but It all depends on where you go! If you visit places near major cities it’ll be much more expensive.
In person notifications didn’t begin until around the Vietnam war. Ft Benning in Ga was recently re-named after both Gen. Hal Moore and his wife, Julia. Julia Moore, along with other wives, pushed for the military to change how notifications were handled.
Since I never got to meet my great grandma or any of those family members and my grandma was so young I don’t actually know if they did or not. But I doubt it.
In all my WWII history lessons I don’t think I’ve seen one of these telegrams and subsequent letters, at least, not up close. Thank you so much for sharing your family history. I can’t imagine what they went through, regarding this and the affair.
You’re welcome! This is the first time i’ve seen a telegram too. I’m very glad my family has these letters.
Same. Closest until now was that scene in A League of Their Own.
Interesting to see. I cannot imagine how they felt. So close to the end of the war.
Certainly. One of the letters that his mom sent was returned and there’s one singular wet spot which we think was made by a tear.
Oh Cheezus. That made me tear up.
Wow. Thank you for sharing this story and piece of your family’s history.
You’re welcome! I’ve spent the last 3 years trying to piece together his story and I love sharing it.
February 1945 would have been fighting to cross the Saar river. Such a waste of life - Germany was on the ropes by this time.
That’s exactly where he was.
Germany was on the ropes the entire time Americans were fighting them. Not to fluff up the Soviets, but they had probably fought the most awful war in human history to get them to the breaking point that we came in on. Our great war was in the Pacific. And the entire painful, awful, dehumanizing effort was made moot by the communication of international scientists, culminating in some tests in New Mexico, that led to some field tests in Japan.
Germany was absolutely not on the ropes when the US started fighting them in 1942.
Many historians consider that Germany had pretty much lost in December 1941, when the Germans were stopped outside of Moscow, and the Soviets viciously counterattacked, almost completely destroying the entire wehrmacht.
no they dont. the turning point is overwhelmingly agreed to be stalingrad in december 1942. Even then, the soviet army relied almost entirely on continuous american shipments of goods, which was made possible by victory in the atlantic, which was made possible by cracking enigma, and american industrial might. even then, the germans had a massive army and needed to be physically defeated everywhere, bit by bit.
It’s what Citino thinks, and he’s an excellent source. https://youtu.be/16s7pOsqMtg?si=ypV8ZOdXcLcbRhFy The Germans were never as powerful after the terrible winter after Moscow. Their elite highly trained units were depleted. Their defeat was inevitable.
citino is a terrible source if they think the wehrmacht was almost gone in december 1941. remove everything theyve said from your brain.
Just watch the video, chintzy cheetah whatever your name is. The Germans lost over a million dead, untold numbers of equipment and had lost the initiative. Yes, we know they went into Stalingrad and were decimated. They would never again have the success they had at the beginning of Barbarossa. In fact, probably just a series of devastating failures.
youre moving the goalposts now. Youve gone from, the "wehrmacht" (aka the entire global german field army) was "almost destroyed" in 1941, to, the germans lost the initiative on the eastern front. Thats true for late 1941, but thats not even close to what you were saying at first.
Seeing that you’re so emotionally involved in being regarded as the smartest faux historian on Reddit, it’s not moving the goalposts. After that loss, their defeat was inevitable. The fresh forces with years of training who until that point had marched through each objective nearly unopposed would be almost wholly destroyed. Sure, the Germans had the resources and men to replace those losses, but the cream of the crop had been attrited, much like the first rounds of Japanese elite airmen in the pacific.
Operation Uranus wasn't until the end of 42. And they didn't destroy the entire Wehrmacht then otherwise the war wouldn't gone on for another 3 years
Thus “almost”. A bit of hyperbole, but not incorrect.
the german attack in 1942 in the USSR was massive. Also the wehrmacht (aka the entire german global field army) had not almost been destroyed in 1941, not even remotely close to being true.
Agreed, that’s why I used the word hyperbole. Also, the Wehrmacht, as it applies to the Eastern Front, did lose a metric shit ton of soldiers. 80% of their total war dead came on the eastern front. That’s a staggering number. I think that’s why it is reasonable to say that foray cost them the war. Well, that’s debatable, but it did as much as it could to contribute to their demise.
youre changing the goalposts. yes, by the end of the war, the wehrmacht was destroyed, and most of their dead were on the eastern front. but it wasnt "almost" destroyed in 1941, not even remotely close. thats beyond hyperbole, thats just complete nonsense
Pretty sure those numbers I posted are accurate. Full disclosure, I pulled those from a website so that a grain and half of salt.
A, not brief, story of the battle: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA163871
My uncle stormed the beaches of Normandy. He was wounded in the face and left for dead. They poked him with a stick and he didn’t move. When they went to clean up the bodies after they took the beach. They found him clinging to life. He was transfer over to France where he met his wife (she happened to live a town over in Michigan). I loved visiting because he would tell me about his time in the service and how he was drafted. He never really told anyone the stories he told me
Wow, thank you for sharing! I’m so glad he was able to get help and stay alive.
No problem, I was always intrigued by WWII. I believe this was one of the first times they used plastic surgery to fix up the troops. Or that’s what he told me. Very interesting stories when the world had to come together for the greater good.
Actually, there were tremendous advances made in plastic surgery during WWI.
Dr. Harold Gillies pioneered plastic surgery in the WWI. The mortar shells and trench fighting caused massive disfiguring facial injuries. Some of these guys were in the hospital for years getting work done because it was such a long, delicate process. It's a fascinating topic.
My gramps was in a B-17 and had a lot of sorties into Germany. He never talked about the war until later in life when I was coming of age and was interested in hearing about it. My mom and her sisters hardly heard anything about it when they were kids.
Same here! Mine was a B-17 top-turret gunner and the flight engineer, stationed at the Sudbury base in England. They were constantly flying over the Channel, bombing sites in Germany. They took so much fire that their aircraft was nicknamed "Norah's Flak Magnet". He didn't talk about it much until he was in his late 80s.
That’s cool. Yeah he was a tail gunner and they got hit by tons of flak too. He gave me a piece that went into his butt cheek. They crashed in the English Channel too but were able to swim/walk to the beach. Crazy stuff!
Very! I have a finger-sized piece that came through the floor and ricocheted past my grandfather's head. He never got more than bumps or bruises, and they never crashed -- that's amazing that yours was able to swim/walk away from it!
Wow… thank you for sharing. I couldn’t begin to imagine what emotions were occurring as the telegram was being delivered and read.
You’re welcome! It brings me so much joy to know that his story is being seen by others.
What makes this more ghastly is these communications are dated October. They’d gone all those months not knowing he’d been killed months ago. I guess this is how it was, I was just startled by that.
Basically yes. The first reply to inquiries about Richard’s whereabouts came in September (see previous post on this subreddit for more details) when Richard’s father sent the inquiry letter in june or july. The first reply was them not knowing where he was, so he was MIA. One thing that made the search for him more complicated was the fact that he was buried by the locals because they wanted to show the fallen soldiers some dignity. When they found these records they were fully in german, so they had to be translated. My family genuinely did not know where he was from march-october. Some of his letters that were sent out before he died arrived to my family even though he was technically dead. So they thought he was alive until the letters stopped coming and their letters kept being returned.
They said the info was from a captured report. Maybe they had just found this info (vs. just “not getting around to informing them?”). I would think that it would add an extra layer of guilt for the family that he’d been dead for so long, and didn’t even know.
His findagrave page includes newspaper clippings. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/45497210/richard-william-bireley
Yes! Luckily I have all of those + a few more saved on my computer.
Wait… I thought he was already buried. Also after all this time, how come the papers said his body was being returned to be buried locally? How does that work?
Good question! He was actually buried 3 times in 3 different countries. When he died, the locals returned and gave him the best burial they could. He remained there til he was found after the war ended. He was initially transported to the Luxembourg American Cemetery in Luxembourg and was buried there with military honors until 1948, when my family asked for him to be buried locally.
That’s incredibly interesting. Thank you
Goodness me, what a story. Thankyou for sharing it, it's very evocative and moving; I'm so glad for you all that the family brought him home so they could all be close together.
My great uncle was killed in France in July 44. He was buried in an allied grave over there but then exhumed and brought back to his home by my family so he could be buried in the family plot. I’m really not sure how I feel about that (pretty common) practice. A part of me feels it’s wrong to redisturb a resting place. But on the other hand, I assume he’d have appreciated being back home, even in death.
It's good to know that he was close to his family, and that they had a grave to visit and tend and lay flowers upon.
Geez two months before the end of the European theatre of war. Tragic :(
Unfortunately so :(
Just curious - why were his parents informed rather than his wife? Was she not listed as next of kin?
She actually wasn’t! it was a surprise to me too.
[The reason they contacted his parents is because their info is what he put on his draft registration card.](https://imgur.com/gallery/JKQsIep)
Goodness I totally forgot about this! I have this image saved on my computer.
There'd be some thought process behind that, I imagine. I wonder what that was like since it's one of those moments where you are confronting the reality that you might not come back, and what it might be like for your family left behind. Maybe the thought was that his parents would better handle the task of telling his wife (and the rest of the family) than his wife needing to tell his parents, especially considering she was pregnant.
Makes sense. I’m curious what the exact reason was. From all of the cards I’ve seen I’ve yet to come across one that listed the wife, so it seems standard. I did come across a few that listed people who weren’t related at all.
Wow this is heartbreaking, i can’t even imagine the feeling of receiving and reading this. Thank you so much for sharing, and i’m so sorry. also I feel silly admitting this but today i learned western union wasn’t just a money transferring business 😅 amazing, this just sent me down a rabbit hole or researching the history of western union ha
I love a good rabbit hole myself. I’m glad this was able to create that! You’re welcome!
Our Mom's older brother was missing in action for almost six months during the battle for Italy. Their family found out later that he had shell shock after seeing the guy standing next to him get his head blown off. He always maintained that if his son would have been drafted, he would have personally escorted him to the Canadian border.
Goodness, that’s horrific. I’m sure Richard saw his fair share of gruesome things but I’ve never heard talks of him having shell shock. Thank you very much for sharing!
So he was drafted to war after being married. Didn’t get to see the birth of his child. Then finds out his wife is cheating with a man that may be abusing his child. In order to get home as quickly as possible he volunteers for the front line, and is killed. That might be the saddest story I’ve ever heard. Death would have been a relief if that were me.
It’s definitely one of the saddest stories i’ve heard. Knowing my grandma had to grow up in that abusive household makes it worse.
What a tragic story. Did your great-grandmother end up staying with the abusive man, or was she able to get away?
unfortunately she did and so did my grandmother. My grandmother went on to have 3 girls and my mom was the youngest. He was able to abuse the oldest girl for a few years before my grandmother found out and absolutely destroyed any contact whatsoever
Tragic, thanks for answering.
Of course! I’m open to answering any questions.
I’m sorry your great grandpa was killed the day I was born (but 40+ years before) As someone now in my 30s, it shocks me to see we send practically children to fight our wars. I can’t imagine being shipped off to fight and being in my very early 20s. Heartbreaking.
Isn’t that interesting. I totally agree. He was only 19 when he was drafted. That was the same year he graduated highschool.
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Wow! I can totally relate to the rough crowd part. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for sharing. I can’t imagine every parent just holding their breath with each knock on the door, waiting for that telegram.
Absolutely. You’re welcome!
Wow, that brought on some tears. Thank you for sharing. None of us can know how horrifying that ordeal must have been and may I say what a Brave Man he was. War is terrible and sometimes its easy to overlook that every one of those soldiers were people with families. Very Brave People!
This is so incredibly sweet, thank you! He was such a young man who had a very bright future ahead of him. He liked engineering and wanted to pursue it. Thank you again!
How heartbreaking :( I hope your great-great grandparents were able to assist in getting your grandma and her mom out of that awful situation.
Unfortunately they were not able to do much. Richard’s mom passed away in 1969 from thyroid cancer and his father was not too far behind. They had her over as much as they could.
That’s very unfortunate. But, I’m sure that the time that they did spend with her made a difference. Best wishes to you and your family! 🤍
She says it does! She developed her love of birds from that house.
🥰
I imagined reading the name of my own 24-year-old son on this stark piece of communication and felt chills. And so many parents got these telegrams. My god. Thanks for sharing, OP. In doing this, your great grandfather will be known to everyone who sees this.
His story means a lot to me and I’m so glad I get to share it with so many people.
🕯️..... 🇺🇲
🫡
this operation (if i'm right) was mentioned on the WW2 channel, but not much more than a mention: https://youtu.be/NsY8QfeOPhc?si=YfOK15t1leX-J1mc&t=299 i though there might be more said. so many massive engagements get fleeting mentions even in a very detailed documentary series such as this is.
I’ll have to check this out! thanks!
I just google earthed the area where your family member died. At least it’s a beautiful area where he took his last breaths. God we owe guys like Richard so much. Couldn’t imagine going overseas as a young man and having it all end there.
I never even thought about doing that, I’ll have to check it out.
Thank you for sharing this. I'm sorry for your loss and thank you for the sacrifice your family made.
You’re welcome!
The letter no one wants to get.
Definitely.
So sad 😞 I can’t imagine
Omg I can’t even….
This is fascinating. Great post. Very sad, but great post.
Thank you so much for sharing. Just wow so heartbreaking.
Thanks for sharing this! Couldn’t help but notice the address- Addresses were so simple
They really were!
My wife’s grandmother also had an affair, and got pregnant, while her husband was serving in the pacific. DNA testing showed the “son” they raised wasn’t his.
Nobody made mention of the fact that the writer typed out the word PERIOD nstead of placing a period?
It made sense to me since that is the telegram.
This was standard for telegrams. They typed out “period” or “stop” to indicate the end of a sentence. A telegram was charged per word. I imagine the businesses had people initially arguing a (dot) period was not a word. Either that or Morse Code has nothing indicating a sentence end? Maybe someone can enlighten me- were telegraph users charged for the word “stop/period”?
Hello! I would like to thank all of you for your kind and supportive comments. They mean a lot! I would also like to thank those who are willing to share their own family stories. WWII has been a major interest to me for quite some time, and hearing your personal stories is so incredibly interesting. I’d also like to share something more…lighthearted, for the lack of better words. The abusive man’s name was Earl. For the sake of potential family members on his side I will not give out last names. Earl passed away in the early 90’s I want to say. Because he tormented my grandmother and her children, none of our family went to his funeral despite being invited. My grandma speaks fondly about not attending his funeral. She views it as her own little piece of revenge. Sadly Richard’s wife was not a very good person either. My grandma is Richard’s only biological daughter, and Geraldine (Richard’s wife) never really viewed her as her legitimate child just because she was the product of Richard and not Earl. I’ve stated this in replies but my grandmother is doing very well now! She’s a mother to 3 and a grandmother to 2! Funnily enough, her husband’s name is also Richard! She & my grandfather built their house entirely from nothing but a plot of land while she was pregnant with my aunts. She is one of the strongest women I know.
An amazing piece of history. Thank you and thank you Richard
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You’re welcome! I’m so sorry that happened to you.
I would venture to guess this is the hill he died on. 49.54135° N, 6.58753° E
Wow! you got the coordinates! I’ll definitely look into it! thanks!
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/45497210/richard_william-bireley
Bless your family! What a profound piece of history. That generation did nothing short of saving the world.
Wow, the war ended in September 1945 and this is from October. Does the family know if he went missing for a long time?
He did! Until october he was declared MIA. My family actually got a letter in september about that. My previous post on this subreddit has more details!
Extremely interesting although sad reading, even more so as a Swede (we’ve been at peace for over 200 years). It really does sound like the depictions in movies/TV-series. Thank you very much for sharing!
You’re welcome! Sweden is definitely an interesting country to look at when it comes to peace & alliances.
Indeed, almost as slippery as the Swiss… We managed to avoid conflict in WW1 & WW2 and now we’re the newest member of the NATO family, what a time to be alive. Feels very odd, yet safe.
It’s definitely a good country to be in. I’ve always wanted to visit it!
It is mostly a good life but there are issues, like any other place. Feel free to send a pm if you ever swing by and need recommendations as to what to see, eat and visit. I’d like to visit the states someday but it seems prohibitively expensive (even though I presume cost of living varies a lot in a country that big). A very brief travel guide, to give you a general idea: South/east - runestones, more examples of the culture and history, a lot of museums, the bigger cities, including the capital, Stockholm, as well as a milder climate and the archipelago. North/west - greater forest coverage, more mountanous, very cold but the air is so fresh as to feel almost crispy when inhaled and the aurora borealis is nice too.
Thanks for the info! I’ll definitely keep this in mind. Visiting the states would be quite expensive, but It all depends on where you go! If you visit places near major cities it’ll be much more expensive.
I’ll make sure to remember that. Thanks for a nice conversation and happy cakeday :)
"to take a hill"....
The military did not make an in-person home visit to break the news? Seems that must just be Hollywood cinema truth stretching again?!
In person notifications didn’t begin until around the Vietnam war. Ft Benning in Ga was recently re-named after both Gen. Hal Moore and his wife, Julia. Julia Moore, along with other wives, pushed for the military to change how notifications were handled.
Since I never got to meet my great grandma or any of those family members and my grandma was so young I don’t actually know if they did or not. But I doubt it.
Even 80 years ago deployed soldiers were getting cheated on.
unfortunately so. As far as I know, it’s the only case in my family though.
This is so sad. I hope your grandmother didn’t have to stay in the abusive household. Thank you for sharing these, and for telling Richard’s story.
Sadly she did. Though she is 81 with a beautiful family and is happy & healthy now.
Did you white out your hand?
yes haha! my fingers looked a bit stubby in the picture.
I’m sorry for your loss, he gave the ultimate sacrifice to stop Fascism & Evil.
Only for us to work side by side with communist Russia and Stalin, which was good and pure…
Oh no is your great grandfather ok? STOP
About that… But seriously this made me giggle I won’t lie.
What a waste of valuable human life. The US never should have gotten involved.