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later it's incomprehensible to think of how parents could deal with such grief, in such a small environment, 3,200 people in that town. so many served and so many died. again, as we said earlier, this is who we are as a country. it certainly is who we were. the entire country went to world war ii. whether you went overseas or stayed in the united states working in an industry related to the war and nearly every industry was related to the war effort, we all served. it's very very different today. >> john meacham? >> the enormity of that loss. how did the word get back to bedford? how long did it take? the only thing president roosevelt said in public that day was to pray that prayer we heard a moment ago. as june unfolded, as summer unfolded how did the enormity of that loss sink in at home? >> well i think the scene in
heard a moment ago. as june unfolded, as the summer unfolded, how did the enormity of that loss sink in at home? >> well, i think the scene in "saving private ryan," oddly enough, the telegrams sent out from the war department, it would be at least ten days to two weeks before the word got back to that small town about the casualties. in my own family, oddly enough, my uncle gerald, who was killed at midway, the battle of midway june 6, 1942, his mother, my grandmother, they did not find out about his death until early in july, right before the fourth of july and then it was only a telegram enlisting the fact he was missing in action. and another couple of weeks, well into july, he was clearly declared dead by the war department.