Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-07-17
OFFICIAL STORY OF SACRIFICES
ON FRENCH FIELDS ARRIVES
Imperator Brings Data Close to Hearts Of
American Families Whose Loved Ones
Died for Country.

In his pocket. He was never identl-
ned and 1t is believed the razor came
from some German soldier Another
was brought to a hospital in breSt
when the Spanish influenza was rails
ing havoc with our incoming trans
ports without even pajamas.
Slightly Wounded. Said Comrades.
man had a finger shot off and
started walking back along the road.
Five minutes later he was killed by
q shell. He was buried and reported
dead, but his comrades. convinced that
ne was alive, wrote to his family that
ne was only slightly wounded. Others
were killed when the Germans bomb
cd hospitals. yet company recorts and
letters of their comrades reported
them slightly wounded
Similar cases could be multiplied
by thousands. Individual reports amid
such surroundings form the basis of
any armyS casualty lists The marvel
is that they were as accurate as they
were.
On the day Of the armist;ce out of
the American total of $4,000 casual
ties, later reduced to 30s.O0o by the
mistakes. 1880 were listed as miss
ing in action. The mystery of many
other thousands had been cleared up
as the fighting progressed. A list wa s
published with a request for a report
of the fate of every man whose name
was recognized. By February the
number was reduced to $500. and an
other list was published. Supple
mental lists, each with a diminishing
number of names, were sent out by
the bureau each month";
Many Found Alive.
Many of the men were found alive
and serving with other outfits. Others
had been evacuated wounded back to
others were prisoners in Germany, but
half were dead. In most instances
1t was their former buddies who knew
their fate; how the man had been
blown into oblivion by an exploding
wounded and died on the battlefield;
to be later hurriedly buried by others
who did not identify him: how his
body had been left behind WREN the
company retired and the enemy swept
over. or other facts which made his
fate sure.
From the information CLEANED in
this way the central records office be-
lieves it is sure Of the fate of all
except the forty-five who remain on
the list. This does not mean that all
are identified. Between 900 and 1000
are in cemeteries with the words
Unknown American" instead of
name painted on the white cross at
the head Of the grave. This number
would have been reduced if it had
their harvest Of death to bury the
dead as they fell; the figures would
have been smaller. Often it was days.
frequently weeks, before the bodies
could be placed below the ground.
Tags and marks Of Identification then
were missing.
Played Poker With Tags.
Carefree soldiers took the aluminium
Identification tags from around their
necks to use for poker chips. gave
them as souvenirs to French
mademoiselles, traded with their bud
lost everything else or had them
blown away by the shell which
snuffed out heir~Iives. Twenty-Five
tags were found hanging in cap
tured German dugout.
A squad of men went in swimming.
hung their tags on a branch and went
away and left them where they were
found and the men reported missing.
One French hospital hung the tags
for all the American patients, with
their polyglot names, wired on single
peg, and when one died the hospital
attendants took OF the first tag and
buried it with him.
All But FL Prisoners Located.
Out Of the 1851 American prisoners
captured by Germany all have been
located except twenty-one. The day
Of the armistice Germany turned them
loose, to go where they pleased. They
struggled out of Germany in any way
possible. Most of them headed for
their old divisions and former bud