This time was never discussed in my family so I don't know how Mildred or my Great-Grandparents dealt with this news. Maybe they did assume the worst or held out hope that Edward was a POW. From the records I've found, I know Mildred wrote letter after letter to get information about her husbands whereabouts.
In January 1945 the RCAF changed Edward's status to Presumed Dead. That was it. Given no concrete proof of Edward's death, Mildred did not stop her letting writing. In August of 1946 she and Edward's family finally learned the truth.
While on their way back from Germany, Edward's crew was attacked by a German Night fighter. Their Lancaster plane crashed 2km N.E. of Valkenswaard. An investigation revealed a witness, Mrs. van Riemsdijk, who saw the plane explode 50 metres before the crash. Debris was scattered over a large area. She and other town members approached the aircraft to see if there were any survivors. Four bodies were removed and reported buried in Woensel Cemetary, Eindhoven. At the time of the investigation only two graves were marked, F/O Hancock, and Sgt. Gaynne. The rest were unknown. The towns people collected what ID discs they could and handed them over to the Red Cross.
The unknown graves were exhumed to establish identity and to see if more than one body was buried in each grave. On March 18th 1948, Mildred received her final response from the RCAF. Edward's body had been identified and buried in Plot KK, Row 1, Grave 11 in Woensel Cemetery.
For Mildred, I don't know what happened to her or if she re-married. I do know that every year on my Great-Grandmother's birthday she would send a dozen roses. For my Great-Grandparents, the carefully preserved photos and letters are proof enough. In 1949, Alma Dow received the medals Edward never got to wear. They are still in our possession today.
As Granddad wrote in the introduction to Edward's letters:
It is important that these letters be preserved because they record some of his hopes and aspirations which by his untimely death were left to be realized by others. It is also important to remind ourselves that the price, for the freedoms we enjoy, were paid for by the thousands of young men, like him, who never counted the cost.
