ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Page Count: 9

Recovery and Identification of World War II Dead: American Graves Registration Activities in Europe
Stanley, LA
Instructor in anthropology, Luther College, IA

Wood, WR
Research professor in anthropology, University of Missouri, MO

(Received 26 November 1988; accepted 12 January 1989)

Abstract

About two thirds of the 281 000 Americans who died in World War II (WWII) fell in the European Theater. Of the 148 000 bodies recovered from Europe, nearly 99% were identified. Through the efforts of the Graves Registration Service and the American Graves Registration Command, more than 171 000 Americans who died overseas worldwide during WWII were eventually returned to the United States for final burial. The procedures used at the Central Identification Point in Strasbourg, France, for the identification of unknown remains is illustrated by the case of an Eighth Air Force crewman killed over Germany in 1943 whose body was recovered in 1947.

Keywords:
physical anthropology, graves registration, World War II, war dead

Paper ID: JFS12778J
DOI: 10.1520/JFS12778J
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