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138 Chapter 13 What Hath God Wrought? Faucett, Missouri, 02 December 1944 When Samuel F. B. Morse, a sometime art professor and inventor, petitioned Congress for the award of $30,000 to construct a telegraph line between Washington and Baltimore, he had begun a revolution in communication. In 1844, when the line was completed, Morse set up shop in the old Supreme Court chambers in the Capitol, and before a crowd of congressmen and news reporters , sent the first official message by the newfangled electric machine. “What hath God wrought?” he tapped on the key in a series of dots and dashes in a code he had invented, a code that was later to give fits to Lee Lamar and a generation of aviation cadets. The message had been suggested by the young daughter of a friend, who had selected a verse from the book of Numbers, 23:23. Later, the short experimental telegraph line was expanded from coast to coast and across the Atlantic. It was by telegraph that Mark Twain was able to cable from London that the reports of his death were greatly exaggerated. The telegram became an icon of personal communication, and because it was expensive compared to posted letters and charged by the word, a new syntax was used that eliminated what were deemed unnecessary words. A famous story made the rounds about a journalist who wanted to know Cary Grant’s age, and sent a telegram: “How old Cary Grant?” The reply was predictable: “Old Cary Grant fine. How you?” Perhaps the shortest telegram, by two parties who needn’t have worried overly about the cost, was one reported to have been sent by the author and playwright Oscar Wilde, curious about how his latest work was doing. “?” he telegraphed his publisher. Not to be outdone in minimalism, the publisher replied: “!” There was something dramatic in the delivering and receiving of a telegram , a certain flair that spoke of important matters that couldn’t wait for the plebian mail. What Hath God Wrought? 139 But the novelty of the nearly instant communication had worn off in the hundred years since Morse sent that telegram from the Capitol. By 1944, it had become the means of notifying families across the U.S. of something serious regarding their loved one in the service. Telegrams went out across the country , to small towns, to farmhouses, to city apartments, to rich and poor and in between, carrying phrases like “ . . . regret to inform you.” Americans learned to hate the telegram, to dread the knock at the door of a Western Union messenger bearing a windowed envelope.1 On 2 December 1944, Urvie Lamar opened the barn door into the barnyard at his small farm outside of Faucett, where he had been doing the morning milking. Coming through the gate into the barnyard was Mr. Bleavens, the Faucett grocery man, where the family traded. Blevens did not normally call on his customers and certainly not this early in the morning. He had a yellow envelope in his hand. Urvie’s suspicions were raised. “It’s Lee, isn’t it.” It was a statement, not a question. “Yes, Urvie, I’m afraid it is.” Lamar’s father grimly accepted the envelope. The telegram had been delivered to the postmistress at Faucett. Western Union did not deliver in the country, but the postmistress was a friend of the Lamars; she understood the implications of the telegram, and despite the rationing of gasoline found someone willing to deliver the message so it would not end up in the mailbox at the end of the driveway. Urvie walked into the house and laid the envelope on the kitchen table. He sat down and began to shake. Nannie arrived from the front room. It had been several weeks since they had heard from their son, which was not unusual. But Urvie was sure he knew what a telegram meant. With trembling hands, Lamar’s mother opened the envelope and the couple slowly read the telegram. It was addressed only to Mr. Lamar, but neither bothered with the oversight. Women in 1944 had long ago become accustomed to being ignored in officialdom. But certainly the message in the telegram could not be ignored: THE SECRETARY OF WAR DESIRES ME TO EXPRESS HIS DEEP REGRET THAT YOUR SON SECOND LIEUTENANT EDGAR L LAMAR HAS BEEN REPORTED MISSING IN ACTION SINCE EIGHTEEN NOVEMBER OVER ITALY. IF FURTHER DETAILS OR OTHER INFORMATION ARE RECEIVED YOU WILL BE PROMPTLY NOTIFIED...

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