You make a very good point, Col, about the courage of relatives and partners who are bereaved.
I have personal experience that attests to that. My father was Missing in Action in a Beaufighter in 1942. For the remaining 56 years of her life, my mother expected him to walk through the door. He never did, and she never remarried. I never heard her complain about her appalling situation.
I was so struck by her fortitude that I felt able to say, in her death notice in the Telegraph, paraphrasing John Magee, "At last they are together again, there to dance the sky on laughter-silvered wings."
Courage indeed. And courage that clearly continues amongst the bereaved today.
airsound