Who Takes Care of the Dead – Quartermaster History

During World War II, the Quartermaster Corps operated on a scale unparalleled in history, with theaters of operation in the Mediterranean, northern Europe, the Pacific, and even the China-Burma-India Theater. Thousands of Soldiers were trained to fill specialized roles; and they performed heroically in far off places such as Bataan, Leyte, Salerno, Normandy, and Africa. When it was over, they had recovered and buried nearly a quarter of a million Soldiers in temporary cemeteries around the world.

And just what is the history of the Quartermaster Corps? Before 1862 mortuary procedures were limited to posts maintaining their own cemetery that served soldiers who died in garrison. Soldiers who died in the field typically were buried in place, under primitive conditions. If the family of an officer provided the coffin, the remains could be shipped back to the family, circumstances permitting. During the Mexican War the United States did create a cemetery in Mexico City, but there were no identification procedures.

The Civil War marked a significant milestone in the history of mortuary affairs. Families wanted the consolation of knowing their loved ones received a decent burial. At the opening of the war remains of fallen comrades received little or no care. Sometimes they were buried in a shallow grave, or else the human remains were just left on the battlefield. In July 1862 Congress authorized creation of a national cemetery system under the direction of the Quartermaster General. Here the mortuary story begins.

Even with establishment of the national cemeteries, the mortuary affairs story is often painful. During the war only 60 percent of the Soldiers were buried in a properly marked individual grave. The remainder simply became unknown remains to be interred in a mass grave. When you consider those numbers include Soldiers who died in a hospital setting, the numbers become so much worse. Solders that died in battle stood little chance of a proper burial, especially if they were on the losing side. The victor owned the battlefield and seldom displayed any interest in caring for enemy dead. Before the battle of Cold Harbor Union soldiers wrote their names on their bodies hoping to be identified. In the North companies began to advertise stamped metal pins that could be attached to the uniform.

After the war the Army began extensive searches of the old battlefields to find casualties and bury them in the newly created national cemeteries. This consisted of just old fashioned searching for remains and then burying them. The official searching continued until 1870, five years after the war. By 1870 the United States had 73 cemeteries containing 299,696 Union soldiers. From time to time remains of Soldiers would be found through the twentieth century, and then placed in a military cemetery.

During the Philippines War, Army chaplain Charles Pierce noticed that Soldiers often purchased metal identity disks at their own expense. He recommended making them a part of the standard issue for Soldiers. He also recommended consolidation of all records relating to deceased Soldiers.



In 1912 a major organizational change allowed the Army to provide better support, not long before the war. The Quartermaster Department reorganized into the Quartermaster Corps creating military units for functions previously performed by contractors. The civilian Burial Service was eliminated to be replaced by Soldiers organized into the Graves Registration Service. At least this was the plan. In reality there were no Soldiers trained in Graves Registration.
 

There was not sufficient shipping space or other resources to transport remains back to the U.S. during the war. So bodies were placed in temporary graves. The Army planned to determine the final disposition after the war, making an assumption they would win. Between 1930 and 1933, the U.S. government paid for visits to the graves by the widows and mothers of the casualties. Responsibility for managing these visits went to the Quartermaster Corps. Over 6,000 women visited the graves.

Quartermaster activities were called the Graves Registration Service because their role was to supervise the creation of temporary burials and record (or register) the relevant information. Soldiers were issued the identification disks, which exist to this time as the famous “dog tags.”

 

 

The fields of battle were still owned by French civilians, so the French government obtained use of the land on behalf of the U.S. Army, which required extensive coordination. The French were especially concerned about health issues relating to handling corpses. The Graves Registration Service wanted to place the Soldiers in marked graves while information was still available. On occasion this meant conducting burial parties within range of artillery fire. Whenever the Army found isolated remains, such as aviators, the Graves Registration Service needed to recover these remains and respond as best as possible. The difficult and unpleasant work of exhuming the partially decomposed human remains went largely to African American Soldiers.

After much discussion three alternatives developed for the final disposition of the war casualties. The first was to create permanent cemeteries in France. Second was to return the remains to the United States for burial in a national cemetery. The last alternative was to return the remains to the family for burial in a family cemetery. The U.S. government decided to leave the final decision to the families.

Identification

The United States Marines fought alongside the Army, and the Graves Registration Service needed to work with the Department of the Navy in order dispose of those remains.

 

WWII had to restore the Graves Registration Service and the personnel which essentially became defunct in the between war period, using civilian morticians for the function.. Need skills were applied. In cases of unidentified bodies, they searched for clues, or often collected finger prints for possible later identification. In the Pacific commanders faced the painful decision of whether to bury the bodies near where they died and risk loss of identification, or else to transport the bodies to temporary cemeteries in the rear and use scarce transportation that might be used to transport wounded. They decided to give priority to the wounded.

Malmedy Massacre, Belgium Dec 1944

 

In addition to processing the human remains, the Graves Registration work included the possessions of deceased Soldiers. These items were of great emotional importance to the families. The Quartermaster Corps established temporary personal effects depots in the theaters of battle to hold these possessions, and the Kansas City Quartermaster Depot held the personal effects for final shipment to the families. This aspect required scrupulous inventories and detailed paperwork.