National cemeteries played a role in the repatriation process for servicemembers who died outside of the United States during the two world wars. After World War II, the federal government provided their families a choice—burial in a permanent overseas cemetery, stateside national cemetery, or private cemetery with a government-issued headstone. More than 171,000 families opted for repatriation and about 20 percent were re-interred in national cemeteries between 1947 and 1951. Officially called the “Return of the Dead Program,” this effort involved logistical challenges reminiscent of wartime operations. A scrapbook created by U.S. Army Command, Alaska, provides a detailed view of how the repatriation process worked.
Based on decisions by the families of men who died in Alaska Territory—then categorized as “overseas”—approximately 126 were buried in Sitka and Fort Richardson national cemeteries. Another 1,570 were transported from Sitka to San Francisco on the Army transport Honda Knot. Elaborate services were held in both cemeteries and shipside. The Army created an album of repatriation services conducted there between May and September 1948 to record the operations. The 33-page album is made of thick cardstock and measures about 10” x 12”. Its pages contain approximately 20 black-and-white 8” x 10” photographs, along with photocopies of newspaper clippings, lists of dead buried in Alaska, and ceremonial programs. The album is the only one of its kind in the NCA History Collection and is an important artifact.
The Alaska repatriation operations mirrored those undertaken across the globe. Servicemembers buried in temporary wartime cemeteries were located, exhumed, and reburied in interim locations while families made final burial decisions. The choice was left to widows of the deceased if they had not remarried, and then to parents if there was no eligible widow. Bodies returned home from the Pacific theater went to San Francisco while those from Europe were transported to New York City. They were then loaded into special mortuary trains and shipped to regional distribution centers across the country. From there, they were given a military escort to the final burial location.
The decision on a final burial location was intensely personal. Some families wanted their loved one to rest with comrades where they died. Others chose repatriation because interment in a stateside cemetery would allow more frequent visits. The establishment of seven new national cemeteries after the First World War in more heavily populated locales made these an appealing option for many families.
View the National Cemetery Administration’s World War II 75th Commemorative Series “America’s World War II Burial Program” (PDF, 40 pages) to learn more about America’s WWII repatriation program.
By Richard Hulver, Ph.D.
Historian, National Cemetery Administration
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