Searching for family history as told by a WWII telegram communicating safety from son to mother

Posted July 10, 2025

A mockup of what the telegram would look like. Technically, it would've been considered a "cablegram" due to use of undersea cables.

For the past few months, I have working on what has become an extensive search to locate a piece of family history. The purpose of this article is to document my research thus far and to serve as a good location to send people to who may have some information or advice for my search. I eventually plan to run a classified ad in the Erie Times News and this will serve as a good way to get people up to speed.

My great uncle was Rear Admiral Denys W. Knoll. He had passed before I was born, but many stories have been passed down through my family. One in particular has always struck me due to the clear emotional impact it had on those who were around for it, even decades later. During WWII, my great uncle was a lieutenant colonel stationed on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines. After the fall of Corregidor to the Japanese on May 6, 1942, his fate was presumed captured or killed.

His family -- my grandmother and great grandparents as well as great aunts and uncles -- all awaited for some news from the military and feared the worst. On May 19, a telegram arrived from Western Union stating "Mother, all is well. Do not worry. Love, Denys." Denys had escaped on the last submarine to leave Corregidor, the USS Spearfish and upon safe arrival in Australia, sent this telegram to his mother. His mother was actually in Norfolk, VA to be with Deny's wife Genevieve but the family who received the telegram at home described it as the one of the most joyous and surreal moments of their lives.

The family home on 26th Street in Erie, PA where the telegram was received. You can see the wooden vestibule door with a middle glass pane and a white fabric covering.

The family home at 314 West 26th Street in Erie has since been sold to Hamot Hospital who purchased and demolished all homes on the block to make way for an expansion. We did think to save the door that always stood within the front vestible, and where the family would have received the telegram. I imagine that this is where they would've watched out the window to see any news arriving.

My personal connection to the story

I have heard this story my entire life, but I never personally saw the telegram. Typically when this story was told, it was mentioned that the telegram had been sent to a museum (I heard of many different locations that had it, but I'll get into that shortly) and is on display there. Since we took down the door, it has sat in a garage and we had some potential plans for it that never took shape. I ended up purchasing an apartment in an 1890s-built building in New York City this past winter and have been hard at work to renovate it and make it my own. Although this building is already full of history, I wanted to respect that but combine the existing history with my own family's history. My goal is for this apartment to always be a place where my family feels comfortable to visit, so it felt like a nice nod to a past generation.

The door after being placed in its new home, after living in its first and only home for around 100 years. Please excuse the poor finish on the trim, I only just finished stripping many layers of paint!

Upon taking measurements, I realized that the door was the exact same height as the plain, non-stain quality door that had always been installed in the dividing wall. I simply needed to trim down the door width-wise and it would fit perfectly. As I worked on this, I remembered the story of the telegram and it became clear to me that the telegram belonged next to the door.

One piece of information that was new to me was that I was not the first person to think of displaying the telegram next to the door. For many years, my great aunts had it hanging right next to the door as well. After talking with another family member, I was told that there was also a battle flag from the USS Spearfish displayed next to it. These actually do come up for auction occasionally but, but I imagine if I am able to find the telegram, the flag will be in the same place.

Tracking down the telegram

And so started my search. At first, I did not think it would be much of a search at all. If anything, I felt a bit ashamed that I had never gone to see it at "that museum that has it" and made plans to finally go. The problem became clear when I actually started asking where it was. I heard of several different locations and was met with a bit more uncertainty than I expected. Given that I am located in New York City, I just wanted to verify which museum or library had it. As I started to get connected to curators and archivists, it was striking to me that they all thought the story was fascinating, but this only strenghthened their eventual claims that they did not have it.

I'd like to document some of the locations I have searched thus far:

1. The Erie Blasco Library / Potential old location at Perry Square

I have been told that this was once on display at the Blasco Library. I was connected with some very helpful individuals who work in the Heritage Room and although they were able to find a remarkable number of documents and newspaper stories relating to Rear Admiral Knoll, they certainly did not have the telegram or anything of the sort.

The Erie Daily Times article from May 20, 1942 found at the Blasco Library.

One loose end here is that the Blasco Library used to be located where the Erie Federal Courthouse is now located at Perry Square. One possible but unlikely scenario is that the telegram, for whatever reason, remained in this location but I have been unable to search this myself. We suppose this could've happened if the telegram had been hanging on the wall and was left there, being seen as a good representation of Erie history that did not need to move with the library. This is the kind of thing that I'm hopeful writing this article could help with. If something truly strange happened, I think I need to boost it to a large, Erie-based audience if I want to stand a chance of finding it.

The library was able to help me find some newspaper articles directly related to the story. The May 20, 1942 edition of The Erie Daily Times reads "LIEUT. COMMANDER DENYS KNOLL SAFE IN AUSTRALIA" at the very top and continues with "TELEGRAM HAS BEEN RECEIVED BY HIS BROTHER" and the article follows in full on the front page. Interestingly, this and other articles from Pennsylvania newspapers quote "Safe and well. Do not worry." but I have only ever heard the wording "Mother, all is well. Do not worry. Love, Denys." used in the passed down family story. It is possible that there were two telegrams sent, one to his mother and one to his brother, but I am certain that the one that hung in the house on 26th Street was the one sent to his mother.

2. The Erie Maritime Museum

The Maritime Museum is located in the Blasco Library, so I was hopeful when I heard from the Heritage Room that they did not have it, that my family members were actually talking about the Maritime Museum. I was able to get connected with the curator who was well aware of Rear Admiral Knoll's extensive military career that extended well before and after the events that occured on Corregidor described here.

Denys Knoll, my great uncle, a lieutenant colonel who was stationed on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines during WWII.

He thought the story was interesting, but he was quite confident that the telegram was not in their possession. It is silly but I actully have not been able to search this myself. On my most recent trip to Erie, I was constrained for time searching these other locations. However, I trust the curator's assertion and will be visiting soon to see the museum anyhow. Interestingly, the curator expressed interest in displaying the telegram if it were to be found.

3. Gannon University Nash Library Archives

My aunt was quite convinced that she heard a lot of Denys' items were in the archives at Gannon University's Nash Library. In the initial stages of my serarch, I was told that Gannon no longer had a curator or archivist but I decided to visit anyway. I was met with a very real archivist who couldn't have been more helpful. She immediately told us that the name did ring a bell and allowed us to poke around the archives while she searched digitally.

The archivist was able to locate correspondence from a previous archivist who was in the process of transferring items to the Hagen History Center / Erie Historical Society. Unfortunately, the correspondence is not dated.

I did manage to scan a list of all items we have in the Rear Admiral Knoll collection. Hopefully the numerous pages scanned well enough for you to read. I also hope your e-mail can accept such a large document. If not, further e-mails will be coming..... I've also included a "mini-bio" of Rear Admiral Knoll that was used in Gannon's 1959 Commencement program to give you an idea of this gentleman's historical importance. [Our focus] is now moving more toward strictly being a Gannon Archives.

An amusing document of Denys' once stored in the Gannon Nash Library archives, later transferred to the Hagen History Center.

There was nothing else mentioned, and none of his items were still located at Gannon. To add insult to injury, neither Gannon nor the Hagen History Center has the mentioned list or the "mini-bio". I did get the contact information of this past archivist who seemed to have a particular interest in Rear Admiral Knoll and am working on getting in touch with him.

However, this felt like a breath of fresh air. This served as solid confirmation that they did have a large collection of his items at one point. Although we were not able to get a record of who delivered these items to Gannon and when, it maps with the story I have heard from family members that Denys himself donated some of these items to the university, and that a later collection of his items (particularly more family oriented items) were donated... elsewhere, by my great aunts, some time after his passing.

4. Hagerty History Center / Erie Historical Society

The email found at Gannon proved to be true and the Hagen History Center was in possession of a large collection of Rear Admiral Knoll's items. The staff did an initial pass through of the collection and did not find the telegram. My family does have some connection to the Hagen History Center and they very graciously allowed us to search through the collection. Although we certainly trust their expertise and were disappointed to hear that their initial pass through did not find the telegram, it felt good to look ourselves and we did find some remarkable items.

A signed photo from JFK to Denys.

We were met with an entire shelf worth of items. I should've counted, but I'd guess at least 30, possibly 50 or more boxes are located at the Hagen History Center archives. The boxes are filled with paperwork, newspaper clippings, photos, awards, uniforms, documents upon documents, and tons more. On this initial search we were mostly looking for framed items as we did not expect that anyone would unframe the telegram or the flag. We did a pretty extensive search of all the boxes, experiencing many instances of excitement and disappointment every time we found a framed item, but no telegram nor USS Spearfish flag were found.

If I am to be met with more dead ends, I will be back for a full day to search the collection under the guess it may have been unframed, but I feel quite convinced it is not there.

5. The National Archives

I was not ever hopeful that the National Archives would have the telegram, but I did some preliminary research and thought that it was possible Denys my have used official Navy channels to send the telegram. Although my family was quite adamant that private Western Union service was used, it's hard to say if that was actually true. Potentially, even if it had been sent through Navy channels, Western Union could have been the final carrier. Additionally, my preliminary research led me to believe he Denys would have been allowed to use official Navy channels to more promptly communicate his safety to family. Who knows, so I thought it would be good to reach out the National Archives. I received the following disappointing response:

Thank you for your recent inquiry to the National Archives regarding a personal message from RADM Denys Knoll to his mother after arriving in Australia from Corregidor in May 1942. We have searched our holdings, and we were unable to locate the records you have requested. According to the Navy's Records Management Manual (SECNAV Instruction 5210.1), communications are considered to be temporary records and are not retained as permanent records. With that said, there are series of official communications and dispatches, but only at very high levels of the Navy such as the Commander-in-Chief, US Fleet and Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet. Unofficial or personal communications are not retained.

6. Cathedral Preparatory School

An invitation to JFK's inauguration addressed to Denys.

My brother in law is actually a teacher at Prep. We searched all of the spots where it could be hiding in plain sight, including the library where it supposedly once was located.

Everything right now is pointing to Cathedral Prep, the high school all men in my family have attended, including Denys who was a member of the first ever graduating class at Prep. I graduated myself in 2013 from Prep. Prep was an all-boys school until very recently when it merged with Villa Maria Academy. My dad is convinced that the telegram was at one time displayed in the library as part of a larger display on Denys and I have heard corroborating anecdotal stories from other alumni and family. Some of the people at Prep I would most expect to have remembered the telegram actually mention that while they remember a display of some kind, they do not remember the telegram.

There was an establishment of the Knoll Endowment Fund at some point, and I think this display may have coincided with that. It does seem like some items were given by my great aunts to the school, and I know that at some point while they were still alive, the telegram was moved somewhere and was no longer stored in the house on 26th Street. I belive at the moment that the telegram was given to Prep, knowing that they had many of his items already from the endowment establishment display.

I have been communicating with Prep to organize some time for me to review the archives myself. From all accounts by curators and archivists I have spoken to during this process, the Prep archives are not well organized, but of course it doesn't make much sense for a high school to maintain an archivist. When you add in multiple large-scale renovations, it is understandable that the archives are not organized. I am hopeful that if I can spend a day or two searching, I may finally find the telegram.

What's next

The purpose of writing this article was for me to organize my own thoughts as this is already becoming quite an extensive search. I also have some faith that if this telegram is out there somewhere in Erie, the power of community can help recover this piece of history. I think it is a profoundly moving story and not one that should just be a slowly disintegrating memory of just my family. I know that Erie is filled with many who love history, specifically Erie history, and I have a feeling that this will strike a chord with someone.

Should you have any information, please do not hesitate to email me at lyons340@gmail.com. I would be deeply grateful for any help, even if it is just an inkling of information.