Grave Registration Units in World War II

Question

I am interested in finding out more about the Grave Registration Units in World War 2, specifically I want to know how many people were part of these units, who they were and if there are any records on what they did during the war and how they identified bodies. I am especially interested in personal correspondence about their work, for example, letters they wrote home describing their work. I have reached out to the Library of Congress and the U.S. Army Center of Military History. Would the National Archives have information/documentation on these units? Are there other places I should try?

Lisa Sharik · Answer

For personal accounts you are more likely to find those in museums, historic societies, etc.. than at CMH. The LOC does have a great oral history collection online. I did a search for "grave registration" and these 55 entries were brought up: https://www.loc.gov/collections/veterans-history-project-collection/?q=grave+registration The first person for example on this list served with the 3063rd Quartermaster Graves Registration. 
 The US Army Medical Museum at Fort Sam Houston would also be a great source for general information about Grave Registrations units in WWII. https://armymedicalmuseum.org/ 
 The WWII Medical Research Center is also good. This article on their website is very useful: https://www.med-dept.com/articles/quartermaster-graves-registration-service/ 
 I hope this information will be helpful. 
 Lisa Sharik

ortonka · Answer

Thank you for this helpful information. I am very grateful!

Textual Reference Branch, Archives II · Answer

ortonka 
 Thank you for posting your request on History Hub! 
 For general information about the Graves Registration Service during World War II, we suggest that you review publications like Final Disposition of World War II Dead, 1945-1951 by the Office of the Quartermaster General; The Quartermaster Corps Operations in the War Against Germany ; United States Army in World War II: The Technical Services ; The beginnings of the Quartermaster Graves Registration Service | Article | The United States Army ; or The Graves Registration Service in World War II . 
 To learn more about the composition of specific Graves Registration units, you may wish to review the Muster Rolls and Rosters, 11/1/1912 - 12/31/1943 and/or Morning Reports, ca. 1912 - 1946 for those particular Army units. For more information about these records, please contact the National Archives at St. Louis (RRPO) at stl.archives@nara.gov . Please note that rosters for units serving in World War II from 1944-1946 were destroyed in accordance with Army disposition authorities. For more information, please see Access to Morning Reports and Unit Rosters | National Archives . 
 In addition, operational records and unit histories for numerous Graves Registration units can be found in series like the World War II Operations Reports, 1940-1948 (entry NM-3 427) in the Records of the Adjutant General's Office (Record Group 407) and in the Unit Histories, 1943-1967 (entry UD 37042) in the Records of U.S. Army Operational, Tactical, and Support Organizations (World War II and Thereafter) (Record Group 338). These records have not been digitized. They are in the custody of the Textual Reference Branch at the National Archives in College Park, MD. Please email us directly at archives2reference@nara.gov for additional assistance with these records. 
 Since the Graves Registration Service was under the Office of the Quartermaster General, you may also wish to explore National Archives Record Group 92: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774&ndash;1985 . For example, the series General Correspondence Relating to Organizations, 1939&ndash;1954 (entry NM-81 1894-A) in Record Group 92 includes some weekly burial reports that have been digitized . This series (RG 92, NM-81 1894-A) also contains records related to Quartermaster units from 1939-1945 in boxes 164-178. Since these records are arranged according to the War Department Decimal File System , they are not searchable by date or specific unit number. 
 We located an additional 22 series of records related to "Graves Registration Service" in Record Group 92 that might be of interest to you. Eleven of these series are in the custody of the Textual Reference at Archives II. Please review the Catalog descriptions and submit a new request to archives2reference@nara.gov if you would like more information about any of the records in our custody. For more information about records in the custody of other NARA reference units, please use the contact information in the Catalog links to email them directly. 
 Plus, you may use the National Archives Catalog to explore creating organization authority records related to "Graves Registration" . Many of these Catalog entries include brief summaries of the activities and responsibilities of those organizations, and they also sometimes contain links to series of records that were created by or are related to the organization. 
 Please keep in mind that the National Archives is not likely to have custody of personal accounts, diaries, letters, or similar records. We suggest that you search for oral history projects, state and local historical societies, museums that collect or accept donations from individual soldiers and their families, as other History Hub community members have recommended. 
 You might also wish to search for previous History Hub discussions about graves registration , oral history , or related topics. 
 Finally, we suggest that you contact the U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum , the U.S. Army Center of Military History (CMH), and the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center (AHEC) for further assistance. You may also wish to search their websites for additional information and resources. 
 We invite you to continue the conversation with community members on History Hub, but should you have follow up questions for the staff at Archives II, please email us at archives2reference@nara.gov so that we can assist you further. 
 We hope this is helpful for your research! 
 Sincerely, 
 Textual Reference Archives II Branch (RR2RR) 
 [RR2RR 23-00360-RS]

Grave Registration Units in World War II

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