In July 1862, Congress authorized President Abraham Lincoln to establish national cemeteries “for the soldiers who shall die in the service of the country.” This was before there was a federal agency dedicated to Veterans’ affairs, so the responsibility for the cemeteries initially fell to the Army Quartermaster General. They created the first standardized burial practices for U.S. war dead, and although practices have changed throughout the decades, he National Cemetery Administration (NCA) continues to uphold the highest model of excellence when honoring deceased Veterans.
When the United States joined World War I, the American Grave Registration Service began repatriating the remains of all fallen Americans. This practice changed after General John J. Pershing expressed his desire for proper cemeteries and monuments dedicated to the men who had died on European soil. From then on, the government gave surviving family members the choice to return their soldier’s remains to the United States for burial, or to inter them in cemeteries constructed at the battlefields.
During the Second World War, the national cemetery system faced an influx of burials not seen since its founding. There was also, again, a degree of uncertainty over where fallen American soldiers would be put to rest. Some assumed that families of the deceased would want their loved ones buried in the United States, but Western European countries were willing to continue caring for American war dead in the same way they had after the First World War. Ultimately, surviving family members were again given a choice in the disposition of their loved ones’ remains. They could be buried in an overseas cemetery permanently cared for by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), or they could be returned home for reinterment in a national or local cemetery.
For families who chose to have their soldier’s remains returned to the United States, the process often took years to complete. Repatriation was especially difficult when remains could not be identified. “Unknown” individuals were usually buried overseas. Today, however, modern science can often identify previously unknown remains. Many of those remains are then returned to the United States for reunification with the soldier’s family. Take, for example, the story of Private James Loterbaugh, an American soldier from Roseville, Ohio. He died in Germany in 1944, but his remains could not be positively identified until 2023, when the Defense POW-MIA Accounting Agency confirmed his identity. In the summer of 2025, more than 80 years since his death, James Loterbaugh was laid to rest in Dayton National Cemetery.
Museums collect artifacts because of the stories they tell. The following objects from the National VA History Center tell the story of how families of fallen World War II soldiers chose to honor their loved ones and preserve the memory of their service forever.
The first artifact is a large metal and wood box with handles and latches on each side. The text on the box reads, “ANDREW A. VADASZ, PFC USAGF, FOR GIVEN FUNL. HOME, S PROSPECT ST., HARTVILLE, OH,” telling us that this is the case used to transport the remains of Private Andrew Vadasz back to Ohio.
Vadasz was born in 1918, and he served in eastern France in 1944. In July 1948, local newspapers reported the arrival of a ship transporting the remains of more than 200 Ohioans, including Vadasz, back to the United States. Four years after his death, Vadasz was laid to rest in his hometown cemetery, with the national cemetery standard headstone.
Vadasz’s family chose to honor their son by returning him to Ohio. Other families who lost loved ones in the war chose for their remains to be honored in the places where they died.
The second artifact is this flag, which was presented to the family of Flight Officer Mark O. Lapolla, from Suffern, New York. Lapolla’s plane went missing in January 1945 and he was pronounced dead the following year. His family chose for their son to be interred in the Florence American Cemetery in Florence, Italy. In such cases, families are given an American flagwhich is draped over their loved one’s casket prior to burial.
Over the last 250 years, loved ones lost in war have been remembered and honored for their sacrifice in many ways. NCA describes the WWII Burial Program, specifically, as “a promise kept to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.” The National VA History Center shares these and other stories of America’s service to Veterans and preserves these histories for future generations.
For more information about the WWII Burial Program, check out NCA’s publication written as part of the World War II 75th Commemorative Series here.
