The mourning of World War 1 widows: its special qualities

Accounts of the experience of three First World War widows highlight the sp ecial qualities of the grief suffered by war widows in general and First Wo rld War widows in particular. In their case the grieving process is prolong ed for a number of reasons, the severe depression they often suffer, the ab sence of a body, the doubt left in their minds by the words "missing in act ion", their exaggerated feeling of guilt and their tendency to idealise the ir dead husbands. Two further factors prevent them from working out their g rief: the young age of the soldiers who died for France, and the elevation of these soldiers to the status of French patron saints by a "secular relig ion of justification".