Alva Review-Courier -

CHANDLER, Okla. (AP) — Only the names on the telegrams were different.

Otherwise, the six were exactly the same: Same date. Same place. Even the same wording.

"It must've been gut-wrenching," said Paul Vassar, who still has a hard time grasping what it was like for his hometown — losing six of its young men on the same day in World War I.

"Chandler was an even smaller community then, where all the families knew each other," he said.

Although the deaths occurred on Oct. 8, 1918, it was three weeks before the news arrived in Chandler and telegrams were sent to the families.

Making the loss even...