[Nono]

IN WW2 it was done by telegram in the US and Canada and probably most other countries. Kinda impersonal, eh? So telegrams were greatly feared. Perhaps a letter from the CO followed eventually, perhaps not.

Now, as in the Vietnam era, the news is delivered in the US in person by military personnel. (So I guess the sight of an olive drab car pulling up outside is also greatly feared.) There was an article about this in The New Yorker last summer. They recite a scripted message and have explicit orders to keep it brief and impersonal, and to definitely avoid anything resembling a human response to expressions of grief. Sounds like a great assignment.