A little before 11 o'clock in the still hot morning, an elderly Western Union messenger climbed the steps to the red-bricked sun porch of a bungalow in Tonawanda, N.Y., and pressed the bell. Mrs. Michael C. Niland was busy with the housework when she heard it.
Mrs. Niland, a stout, calm woman who is "Stumpy" to her four boys, signed the messenger's pad, opened the telegram. It was from Adjutant General Ulio, and it read: "The Secretary of War desires that I tender his deep sympathy to you on the loss of your son Preston. . . ."
Her hands trembled. Lieut. Preston Niland, missing since June 7 in the Normandy invasion, was only one of her soldier sons on the Army's casualty list. Still carried as missing were sons Edward (a bomber gunner in Burma) and Robert (a sergeant with the paratroopers in Normandy).
Five days later another messenger came. It was 7:30 in the evening. The supper dishes had been washed; Mr. & Mrs. Niland were in the living room with their two daughters and Preston's fiancée, Dorothy Frey. Daughter Clarissa Marie answered the doorbell while the group in the living room sat still. Again the words "The Secretary of War . . . sympathy on the loss of your son Robert."
Of the Nilands' four soldiers only one was still safe, as far as they knew. That was Frederick, who starts his letters "Hi, Stumpy." Frederick is also a sergeant paratrooper in France.