Moving to Korea on a ten-day notice, a Graves Registration Section was hurriedly assembled. One officer and six enlisted men, clerks, and supply personnel, were assigned the job. This small section, in addition to normal functions, established and opened most of the UN cemeteries in Korea-six in all. They were eventually taken over by the Eighth Army. In operation, Graves Registration Section usually sets up a collecting point near a rear supply area.
Regiments evacuate bodies to that point.
Beginning with basic identification procedures, dog tags, and certificates of identity from the deceased's friends are obtained. Fingerprints, laundry marks in clothing, scars, tattoos, and examination by a dental officer for comparison with file copies kept in Washington, are usually combined when identification is difficult. Process of elimination is also employed, wherein original location of the body is carefully noted and checked with the military unit operating in that exact area at the time of death. From there, small unit records are consulted. After identity is established, an inventory of personal effects is made and the items turned over to the proper agency.