Linda - You are quite welcomed. Glad I could help. There was not a formal notification process then like there is now. Various ways that they could get the news might include: hearing it from a comrade coming home on furlough, getting a letter from his commanding officer, hearing from a friend or neighbor whose son or husband wrote home telling his family about the death, or, perhaps in your great uncle's case, being notified by letter from the doctor who had charge of the hospital. Sadly, in many cases, they never found out what happened, only that their loved one did not return from the war.