The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-02-22
HEROES LISTED
AS DEAD ARE
COMING HOME;

Washington, D. g. reb. 21.-Can
you imagine how happy You would be
if you had been told that somebody
you loved had died, ana then learned
that it was not true; that he was
alive?
Well, that is the happiness which
has come to many an American home
recently. for boys who have been 70
ported dead lover there" are showing
up alive
They weren't killed at all Merely
mistaken identity. Wrong Identified
ton numbers cab1ed across, or some
other horrible mistake made in Tie
report.
The other day. while was comhing
the war department to find out If a
man reported dead Of wounds re-
ceived in action" really was dead. for
he had been seen and heard from
since the war ended, I ran across in
stances of similar reports which had
saddened lives of loved ones and had
proven untrue.
Private August Heusser went over
from kensington, Pa. last June. Some
weeks ago Mrs. Heusser received a
communication from the war DEPART
ment which told her her husband had
been killed in action Sept 2G
Last week the telephone rang in the
Heusser home. Mrs. Heusser took
down the receiver. It was 4 long-dis-
lance call
rs that you. Audria - asked voice
which thrilled her and startled Ter.
It's J, August"
Oh, I'm SO glad for l was notified
that YOU had been killed" Private
Heusser was speaking from Canp
Dix, where he had just arrived from
France.
Private Wilbur PestelI came to
Walter Reed hospital He is IA ofdIs
getting over wounds. The hapriast
person in the world was his motao-
when she came to his cot. she ha3
been notified by the war depar+,,,,t..
That her son had been killed in action
And she came to The hospital ii l.of
mourning. which she isn't wearing
nowt
7 thought he was dead" the hanpy
fnother said unable to hide the tea~s
OF JOY, and now I find him alive WV.
can't say another word"
Sergeant George Schifferer. mar7na
surprised his friends in Baltimore last
week by walking in on them. Ha h..d
lnst returned from France ana had
peen reported Killed in action
Inc war department doesn't know
now THESE mistakes We're made. n.r
does II know other similar mis+q,5ee /
unnecessarily saddened home folks
was told in tho adiutant een,.-af,z /
offlce that wounded men have BEN
known to cable home to relatives say |
ing they were we'll and that soma of /
them afterward died; and that sorne /
Of them had friends write home Tell
ing that they We're well when. really
lay at the point of death in HOSPITALS
This is why, in some Instances re-
ports OF good health came from the
loved one over there, almost al the
time when report Of death came OFF
cfally from the war department.
The war department doesn't think
mistakes We're made in cabling fden- /
tification tag numbers OF i'll tracing
them to the right name ana address.
but points to q recent report of Gen.
Hitchcock of the British army. who
said; You would he surprised TO
know how many Tommies change
their Identification disks with pals
It's the same III the French army
Why they do it is beyond understand
ing. We are always burying No
wrong men,
If the practice OF changing iden.tf;
cation tags was as common in lie
American army as in the British and
French, many a reported dead 80
iIer will show up, and many man
not reported dead now sleeps fo~a> cr
in France.
l,.>Nx,