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Royal Canadian Air Force
Command Chaplain's Office Toronto, Ontario Feb.5th, 1944 Mr. & Mrs. P. Pilon Rockland, Ontario. My dear Friends: I have just been notified by the Air Ministry that your son, Sergeant Francois Rolland Joseph Pilon, who was reported missing on April 17th, 1943, is, for official purposes, now presumed to be dead. The suspense of the past months has no doubt been the occasion of much grief and worry, but it has, at the same time, prepared you for the bad news which has so recently been communicated to you. It is not easy to become reconciled to the loss of a son, especially when that son was one who was endowed with the valuable qualities which made him so useful to his country in its hour of direst need. It is not easy to become reconciled to so great a loss, but one must face the inevitable. Your faith will sustain you in this hour of bitter trial, for you must surely realize that one who so generously gave his life in so noble a cause merits glory before God as well as the gratitude of men. Your son made the Supreme Sacrifice for his fellow countrymen, and he who made the Supreme Sacrifice for all mankind will not be outdone in generosity. "Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for a friend." I shall remember your son daily at the altar, and I shall pray too, that God will sustain you and give you the grace and strength to bear your cross of grief. Yours very sincerely,
(J.E. Cahill) Hon. Wing Commander, Command Chaplain (RC) No.1 Training Command. |
