Damon Rarey:
This telegram notified Betty Lou that my father was missing in action. However, Capt. Bill Flavin, Rarey's closest friend, wrote her immediately that his death had been confirmed. The men had promised one another that, in the event of the other's death, each would notify next-of-kin as soon as it was definite. A second official telegram followed a few weeks later, changing Rarey's status to killed in action. Flavin returned from the war and in 1946 married my dad's widow, becoming my step-father.