Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Dr. Naomi Jeffery Petersen, Central Washington University LtC Jim Murrie, USAF (RET) 15 November 2012
AFROTC Detachment 895 UNITED STATES AIR FORCE RESERVE OFFICER TRAINING CORPS
Brochure sent to all next of kin. Four options for final resting place. 1. Return to US for burial in private cemetery 2. Return to US for burial in national cemetery. 3. Burial overseas in private cemetery. 4. Burial overseas in national cemetery. Choice had to be final by December 31, 1951.
IDPF
Lists all details of disinterment, transportation, and burial details. Contains all correspondence with next of kin, including telegrams , Form 1193 (Receipt for Remains) Form 1194 (Disinterment Directive)
93,242 remained buried overseas at family request 8,000 recovered but unidentified; reburied in national cemeteries overseas.
PLANNING
LOGISTICAL CHALLENGES
Shortage of caskets.
Steel Crisis caused one year delay.
Manpower difficulties.
Hiring and paying local laborers.
DIPLOMATIC CHALLENGES
TRANSPORTATION CHALLENGES
Condition of equipment.
Lack of ships, vehicles, and aircraft. Lack of support (mechanics, parts).
PROPAGANDA TEAMS
Public relations.
Search records. Meet with local officials. Posting and broadcasting notification of repatriation effort..
3-man teams.
OIC. Interpreter. Driver.
INVESTIGATION TEAMS
3-man teams. Started with known burials. Followed up leads. Rumors. Other records, e.g. fire incidents. Lolo tribe in China. Consulting a French mayor.
SEARCH TEAMS
Challenging physical terrain. Danger to teams (local violence). UXO Danger (unexploded ordinance).
SEARCH TEAMS
5-man teams.
Investigator or Med Tech Clerk/Driver. Local Laborers.
CONCENTRATION POINTS
Temporary holding point between original gravesites and final route pending identification.
Identified
Central labs.
Strasbourg, France. Manila, PI Honolulu, T.H.
Physical Anthropologist. Professional mortician. Dental technician. Elaborate lab equipment and operators. Chemist X-ray tech
15 WWII cemeteries
Distribution Centers
Schenectedy, NY Philadelphia, PA Charlotte, NC Atlanta, GA Memphis, TN Columbus, OH Chicago, IL San Antonio, TX Fort Worth, TX Kansas City, MO Ogden, UT Auburn, WA Mira Loma, CA
Operational Flow*
1. Ships arrived at Port of Embarkation (POE)
Pacific: San Francisco (Oakland); Atlantic: New York (Brooklyn) Quickly inspected and sorted for destination. Ship arrivals determined Train Schedules.
Victory class
Modifications
Install racks for casket containers in holds. Re-ballast ships for reduced weight. Freshly painted for respect.
1941-1943 purchased approximately 120 SURPLUS HEAVYWEIGHTS Primarily parlor, lounge, observation cars. At least 22 different plans/subplans. 1942-1943 converted to hospital cars for the wounded by both Pullman and ACF. Litter doors added; Interior redesigned. Air conditioning not required by Army; removed. 1947 converted 118 to mortuary cars for the fallen by ACF, Wilmington, DE. Windows covered. Special door locks. I-Beams, hoists and racks added inside.
Protocol required refusal. Policy changed in response to wishes of Native American families,
2. Sorted for
DISTRIBUTION CENTERS
(DC)
Lv Arr Lv
Arr
Oakland (DC #13) 27 October 1947. Kansas City(DC #9) via mortuary car. Kansas City via MP#12 (Colorado Eagle) 7:01 AM 31 October 1947 Sedalia MO 8:35 AM same day .
Shot down by a Japanese plane at Pearl Harbor. First air corps casualty of World War II. Whiteman Air Force Base at Knob Noster near Sedalia.
http://web.sedalia.k12.mo.us/schs/wwII/whitemanR.htm
OAKLAND ARMY TERMINAL (San Francisco POE) 31 Oct 1949. Brooklyn NY (DISTRIBUTION CENTER #1) 08 Nov 1949.
Lv Arr
October 10, 1947 Freighter from Honolulu to OAKLAND ARMY TERMINAL Carried 3512 coffins and 16 urns. Met by 5000 people.
Six lay in state in San Francisco City Hall. One from each service plus one for civilians.
OAKLAND OPERATIONS
Train pic
HONOR GUARD;
Four longshoremen wait behind them to take over operations.
DEBARKATION
Flag-draped shipping cases holding caskets are lowered from the USAT Honda Knot at Oakland Army Base.
Train pic
Forklift prepares to lift casket from dolly onto MORTUARY CAR. Each caskets information is double checked while HONOR GUARD is at Parade Rest.
Train pic
HONORED PASSENGERS
Clean coveralls and gloves with dress shirts and ties. Freshly painted equipment.
Switcher pulls loaded Mortuary Cars from port to rail classification yards prior to inland movement .
(15 car) pulling out of Oakland Railyard for Chicago and Philadelphia.
Depart Antwerp October 4, 1947. Arrive New York harbor October 26.
USAT Joseph V. Connolly met by Aircraft flyover and Naval escort (USS Missouri, 2 destroyers, Coast Guard cutter). Docked at Pier 61, Manhattan. Pallbearers from each service carried casket of one unnamed Medal of Honor recipient from Battle of the Bulge. Procession of 6,000 troops accompanied body past crowd of 400,000 to Memorial Service in Central Park attended by 150,000. Casket returned to ship; ship moved to Brooklyn Army Base to begin transport by rail to hometowns.
Honor Guard on duty facing wreath over flagdraped caskets in hold. (Flags used when in public). Pier 3. 1948.
Flag-draped coffins. Nonstop military escort and guard. Constant checking for proper identification of deceased.
Train pic
Cases containing the caskets of American Servicemen move through flag-draped Pier 3 shed enroute to special mortuary cars.
BUILDING B
8 stories (101) high Moveable bridges. Overhead crane. 980 x 300. 66 wide platforms. 2 indoor tracks. 50 car capacity.
Standing above rail spur, soldiers watch as caskets are loaded onto waiting mortuary cars inside Building B, Brooklyn Army Terminal.
DIGNIFIED TRANSFER
Nonstop military escort and guard. Constant checking for proper identification of deceased.
BROOKLYN OPERATIONS
113,834 remains received at port. Unloaded into warehouse Loaded onto trains inside building. Trains routed either via barge to PRR in NJ or via NYNH&H RR (Long Island RR Bayridge branch) First train out PRR to Chicago (465 remains)
TRANSFER OPS
Cars loaded for final destinations. Cars transferred from Building B by Army switcher #7896
Bush switcher #88 pulls cars from Army yard to Bush Terminal.
TRANSFER OPS
Cars loaded on barges (car floats) to Pennsylvania Railroad yards in Greenville, NJ.
TRANSFER EQUIPMENT
Switchers USA #7896 and Bush #88 Westinghouse 80 ton diesel switchers
WATER TRANSFER
A Mortuary Car History Parlor car Azalea Hospital Ward Car 17 Army # 8917 Ward-Dressing car #89000
WATER TRANSFER
Honor Guard carries casket of one of the first Pacific war dead to be returned to the East Coast from mortuary car. Brooklyn 19 Oct 1947.
Ceremonial photo of Honor Guard carrying one of 296 caskets brought by six-car train from Oakland Army Terminal to Distribution Center #1 (Brooklyn) 19 Oct 47.
Service Car with Casket at Brooklyn Army Base. 1947. Officer explaining Honor Guard duties.
MP's at main gate salute as service car leaves Distribution Center No.1 Brooklyn Army Base, New York Port of Entry.
Lv Arr
Lv Arr Lv Arr
Cardiff, Wales via USAT Lawrence Victory 18 June 1948 Brooklyn (NYPOE) 28 June 1948 NY (DC #1) Atlanta (DC #5) Atlanta via Southern #15 (mixed train) Columbiana AL 01 July 1948. 02 July 1948. 22 July 1948. 1:55 PM same day
Lv Arr Lv Arr
Greenville NJ via PRR Chicago (DISTRIBUTION CENTER #8). Chicago Britton SD via CMSt&P #5 10:30AM 02 Dec 1947. 10:50 AM 03 Dec 1947.
4 Brothers, all died within 6 months. 3 Services 4 Theaters 5th brother released from USMC
POLICY CHANGES
Current policy of "continuous return" of dead is a result of Chinese/North Koreans threatening to overrun the temporary UN cemeteries in 1950.
THEN
AND NOW
MISSION: Provide world class Mortuary Affairs training for officer, enlisted, and civilian personnel from all branches of the armed services.
http://www.quartermaster.army.mil/mac/jmac_centcom_information.html
physical fitness, peacetime and wartime troop feeding, Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations, Armed Forces entertainment, Air Force protocol, lodging, libraries, child development centers, youth centers a wide spectrum of recreation activities.
joint mortuary Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations The Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs 116 Purple Heart Drive Dover AFB, DE 19902
DIGNIFIED ARRIVAL
DIGNIFIED ARRIVAL
FURTHER READING
Soldier Dead: How We Recover, Identify, Bury, and Honor Our Military Fallen. Michael Sledge. Columbia University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-231-13514-9.
AND VIEWING
WORLD WAR II FALLEN SERVICEMEN REPATRIATION PROGRAM November 1947. http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/milrr/batbtww2repat.html) THE FINAL DISTRIBUTION OF WORLD WAR II DEAD 1945-1951. by Edward Steer and Thayer M. Boardman. www.bentprop.org/grs US Army Quartermaster Foundation: MORTUARY AFFAIRS. http://www.qmfound.com/mortuary-affairs.htm Life. Aug 11, 1947. Photo. p32. Life. Nov 3, 1947. THE WAR DEAD. pp77-79. Life. Nov 17, 1947. THE SERGEANT COMES HOME. pp 33-39.
Luther Hanson, QUARTER MASTER MUSEUM, Ft. Lee, VA James Atwater, TRANSPORTATION CORPS MUSEUM, Ft. Eustis, VA
CONTACT US
Jim Murrie 7409 91st Ave. SW Lakewood, WA 98429 bi291@yahoo.com Naomi Jeffery Petersen 713 E. 7th Ave. Ellensburg, WA 98926 NJP@cwu.edu