HC Deb 30 November 1943 vol 395 c220W
Lieut.-Commander Tufnell

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he will consider arranging that notifications of casualties to relatives of serving men shall, in future, be in some way entirely distinctive, either by adopting a different coloured envelope or by printing on the envelope the fact that the communication is from the casualties branch of the service, so as to avoid unnecessary anxiety to relatives of men on active service at the arrival of ordinary telegrams and letters?

Sir J. Grigg

For over a year it has been the practice for Record Offices to stamp the word "Important" on the envelopes of letters to next-of-kin notifying the death or dangerous or serious illness of soldiers and members of the A.T.S. I am afraid that any special treatment of envelopes of telegrams would lead to frequent assumptions that they contained worse news than that actually being notified.