[Note: This manuscript was prepared during the Korean War by the deployed combat historians assigned to the Military History Section, United States Army Forces, Far East (USAFFE), and forwarded to the Office of the Chief of Military History (now US Army Center of Military History) for use in the writing of the official history of the Korean War. The executive summary of this manuscript was published in John G. Westover's Combat Support in Korea. The original is on file in the Historical Manuscripts Collection (HMC) under file number 8-5.1A BA 60, which should be cited in footnotes, along with the title. The author was 1st Lieutenant Bevin R. Alexander of the 5th Historical Detachment, and it was complied using oral interview techniques invented during World War II by S. L. A. Marshall. It is reproduced here with only those limited modifications required to adapt to the World Wide Web, and to eliminate information now protected under the Privacy Act; spelling, punctuation, and slang usage have not been altered from the original except to correct numerous obvious typographical errors. Where modern explanatory notes were required, they have been inserted as italicized text in square brackets. The document originally carried a SECRET classification, but is now unclassified.]

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CONTENTS

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I. NARRATIVE

II. INTERVIEWS

A. Field Service Platoon, 2d Quartermaster Company, 2d US Infantry Division

1. Lieutenant Duke, Platoon Leader

2. Sergeant Rawn, Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge

B. Field Service Platoon, 2d Quartermaster Company, 2d US Infantry Division

1. Lieutenant Wurz, Graves Registration Officer

2. Sergeant Deisenroth, Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of Graves Registration Collecting Point

3. Corporal Imwalle, Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of Graves Registration Personal Effects Section

III. GRAPHIC SUPPLEMENT

A. Shipment Route of Remains and Personal Effects of Soldiers

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[1]

NARRATIVE

QUARTERMASTER FIELD SERVICE PLATOON IN ACTION

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The Field Service Platoon of the 2d US Infantry Division, like that of other similar platoons in other American divisions in action in Korea, has the mission of providing several highly necessary services and aids for troops of the division, which, while requiring a relatively small number of men, nevertheless have effects on the division of inestimable value. The Field Service Platoon of the 2d US Infantry Division further has undertaken services over and above that required in the TO&E without adding any additional personnel to the unit.

According to the TO&E of the Field Service Platoon of an American infantry division, the unit is condoned of the following sections: laundry section consisting of 24 men with a sergeant in charge, a portable bath section consisting of 16 men with a sergeant in charge, and a graves registration section consisting of 10 men with a SFC in charge.

Actually the Field Service Platoon has a laundry section, a shower section, a graves registration section, a repair (or fix-it) shop, a tent repair section and a salvage point. The laundry section, instead of working with the authorized 24 men, performs its function fully with only 17 men. The shower section, instead of 16 men, operates four shower points in the division area with a mere nine men. According to Lieutenant Duke, the Grave a Registration Section "is supposed to have 10 men; it can operate with eight men; and we run it with six men." The fix-it shop, a non-TO&E section, has accumulated five men from within the platoon to perform its functions, while the salvage point provides a salvage center for the entire 2d US Infantry Division with only three men.

Each of the Field Service Platoon sections has separate and distinct functions, but each is included in the classification of field

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service, stated Lieutenant Duke, because each is a specific service detachment for the division fulfilling a distinct service function. By organizing these small detachments into a separated platoon, better coordination and more effective use of the individual sections can be maintained. A more detailed explanation of the different duties of each section follows:

Possessing one of the soberest and yet one of the most imperative missions held by any unit in the 2d US Infantry Division is the Graves Registration Section of the 2d Quartermaster Company. The GRS is charged with commencing the somber journey of the remains of American soldiers killed or who died in Korea back to final repatriation in their homeland. Operating this adjunct of the 2d Quartermaster Company is a small body of men, whose responsibility accounts for no errors and whose work evidences a macabre similarity to normal quartermaster methods of supply—only the GRS supply system works in reverse, from the front to the rear.

The GRS at present (12 October 1951) is located at OEJOK-KOL Korea (DT1622), some six to eight miles behind the present battle line of the 2d US Infantry Division. Here the GRS operates its collecting point for remains of soldiers killed or who have died (Lieutenant Wurz stated that the vast majority of all bodies going through the 2d Quartermaster GRS are the result of combat deaths of men KIA) in the 2d US Infantry Division sector, and also operates a Personal Effects Section for the disposition of private possessions of men killed or evacuated.

The process for the journey of soldiers killed in the 2d US Infantry Division from point of death to final resting place in the United States is as follows: Responsibility of the Graves Registration Section for remains begins at the division collecting point, and no further forward. Division regiments and independent units having casualties and any hospitals that operate in the 2d US Infantry Division sector are responsible

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for 1. collecting bodies from within their respective units, 2. properly tagging the bodies with requisite information and placing the bodies in Human Remains Pouches, and 3. transporting the remains to the division collecting point.

Responsible officer in the regiments and other independent units is the Graves Registration Officer of the unit. This officer is a member of the unit for which he is GRO and often has this responsibility in addition to other organizational duties.

When a man is killed, the remains are turned over to the closest collecting point to the place of death, according to Sergeant Deisenroth. With every remains it is required that an Emergency Medical Tag (EMT), officially signed by a medical personnel, accompany them. The remains are brought back to the initial collecting point and to the division collecting point in the precise condition in which they were picked up on the battlefield or place of death. "Nothing whatsoever is removed from the body," related Sergeant Deisenroth.

Upon arrival at the division collecting point the EMT is checked by GRS personnel (usually Sergeant Deisenroth) and data on the EMT recorded there. If any discrepancies between information on the EMT and other available information occur, such, related Lieutenant Wurz, the possibility of one name being given on the EMT and the dog tags on the deceased man giving another name, someone who is supposedly closely acquainted with the deceased (usually from the same organization) is sent for to personally examine the remains and sign a Certificate of Identity to establish the real name of the deceased. As a rule, stated Lieutenant Wurz, there are no discrepancies on the EMT, and, additionally, the remains generally have dog tags on them.

Following the checking and recording of data, remains are placed in the GRS morgue, which at present is simply a small plot of ground

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adjacent to the 2d US Infantry Division MSR surrounded by a wall of canvas and posted as off limits to unauthorized personnel. Here the remains are laid in the Human Remains Pouches, which are rubber bags with a zipper that runs the entire length on one aide of the bag. The EMT for each body is placed in the bag alongside the remains in a small glass bottle. The reason for inserting the EMT in a bottle is this: Due to the frequent presents [i.e., presence] of blood, dirt, and other matter in the bag, the placing of the paper EMT in the bag without protection would likely cause the writing to quietly become illegible, and hence useless.

Remaining at the 2d US Infantry Division GRS morgue usually less than 24 hours, the bodies of soldiers killed begin thence their journey through various channels and collecting points until they finally arrive in the United States. When a sufficient number of bodies are received at the collecting point they are loaded on 21 ton trucks and sent to UMYANG-NI Korea, where one platoon of the 158th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company is located. This platoon operates a corps collecting point for the 2d US Infantry Division and the 1st Marine Division much in the manner of the 2d US Infantry Division collecting point.

Accompanying the bodies to UMYANG-NI is an Evacuation List, which lists by name, rank, organization and Army Serial Number the bodies carried. This letter, according to Lieutenant Wurz, acts as a letter of transmittal to the corps collecting point.

Not only do American soldiers' remains go through the 2d US Infantry Division collecting point, but also all attached troops and whatever Koreans, military or civilian, which are not taken care of by Korean Army graves registration personnel. The French and Netherlands Battalions, which are attached to the 2d US Infantry Division receive GRS service

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the same as American troops.

When bodies arrive at the platoon of the 148th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company at UMYANG-NI, they go out of the control of the 2d US Infantry Division GRS, and become the responsibility of the 8th US Army unit. At UMYANG-NI the corps collecting point employs, according to Sergeant Deisenroth and Lieutenant Wurz, approximately the same method in sending the bodies received in X Corps to HONGCHON, which is a collecting point for bodies from both X Corps and IX Corps. From HONGCHON, remains are further sent to WONJU, headquarters of the 148th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company, where the fingertips of the deceased men are embalmed and fingerprints taken for later positive identification. From WONJU the bodies are sent by rail to PUSAN, after having been packed in ice for preservation at the former named point. From PUSAN, bodies are sent to KOKURA, Kyushu Island, Japan, where at the American Graves Registration Group, 8204th Army Unit, the bodies are further identified by means of expert anthropology, chemistry, dental charts, records of broken bones, etc., and are then embalmed totally. From KOKURA, stated Sergeant Deisonroth and Lieutenant Wurz, the bodies are dispatched to the United States for burial, either in a United States military cemetery or at the soldiers' homes. No bodies are now being buried in either Korea or Japan, stated Lieutenant Wurz and Sergeant Deisenroth, and all are being repatriated to the United States.

The Personal Effects Section of the 2d US Infantry Division GRS operates a point parallel but not altogether analogous to the associated body collecting point. The Personal Effects Section is located with the Graves Registration Collecting Point at OEJOK-KOL (DT1622) and collects and sends through proper channels personal belongings of persons in the following four classifications: KIA, MIA, WIA, and evacuated through

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medical channels. Goods belonging to personnel in the 2d US Infantry Division sector who which fit into the above classifications are sent from divisional units to the Personal Effects Section accompanied by an AR 600-550 form, made out in the unit from which the person killed or evacuated was assigned; and which lists all of the personal effects belonging to the man concerned.

These personal effects are divided on the AR 600-550 form into two categories: Class I, which includes items of trophy, keepsake, or sentimental value, such as sabers, insignia, decorations, medals, campaign citations, watches, etc., and Class II, which includes items of specific value, such as money, bank drafts, money orders, personal effects, billfolds, etc. These forms are usually made out either by the commanding officer of the man concerned or by the Personal Effects Officer of the unit concerned. It is, however, required that a commissioned officer sign the form, certifying to the totals of property possessed by the soldier killed or evacuated.

"Every specific thing belonging to men killed or evacuated is itemized," related Corporal Imwalle, "whether it be two pennies or fifteen pictures." If money received belonging to the individual concerned is $4.99 or less, it is sent through with other belongings exactly as found—American Military Script, won, or American currency. If the amount found is $5.00 or over, it is converted into a United States Treasury Check. There is one exception to this rule on the changing of money: If a man is evacuated through medical channels, money is not changed, no matter what its total value, related Lieutenant Wurz.

A maximum of eight days is allowed before personal effects of a person KIA or evacuated with wounds or sickness is sent through the Personal Effects Section. The maximum time lag in the case of men