Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-04-03
$500 AMERICANS
STILL " MISSING"
That Number of Uncle Sans
Soldiers Who Entered the
Service Abroad Not Accounted
for in Any Record
GEN. PERSHING'S REPORT
The British Omcin9 Figure of Missing
Men Ii 181,sOO While the Fate of
20O,OOO Soldiers OF France Is stu
Undetermined

Washington, March 27.-General PERISH
ing reported to the war department to-
day that there are still $500 officers
ana men OF the expeditionary forces
listed as missing. This total compares
with the British official figures Of 161, 800
missing and the French of 100000.
All of the $500 names have been re-
ported as missing in casualty lists
already published. the report said. Re-
internment Of bodies from isolated
graves IN the centralized cemeteries in
furnishing additional Identification in
number Of cases, and for this reason the
records of the grave registration serv-
ice are being carefully studied.
REORGANIZATION of grave registration
reports and also Of hospital records, re-
ferred to by General Pershing, was said
by officials at the war department to
explain the killed in action" and
wounded in action casualties still
appearing in the daily casualty lists sent
out by the department.
The British war office, General PERISH
ing's report said. had adopted the policy
OF considering &c weeks in the case of an
OFFICER and 30 weeks for an enlisted man
as the length Of time after the man had
been recorded as missing before death Is
presumed. In the French army, he said,
no definite period had been fed.
mo accurate estimate of unreported
deaths can be given" said General
Pershing's report. There are, however,
approximately $500 missing to be account
ed for. all of whom have been reported
to Washington as missing. Refinement
OF bodies removed from isolated graves
to centralized cemeteries is furnishing
additional Identification Of deaths
hitherto reported as missing. This is
especially true of reburials of bodies
originally buried by allied units to which
American troops were attached. identifi-
cation being either incomplete or i'm
perfectly registered at interment.
Deaths of American soldiers in
French hospitals Of which only meagre
and often incorrect records on file are
likewise disclosed by reburial Of these
bodies resulting in complete identifica-
ton. accession to sites Of prison camps
in Germany and to territory formerly
within enemy's lines is leading to dis
covery Of many American graves and
identification Of casualties previously re-.
ported as missing.
Each company or other unit of the
American Expeditionary Force has
heretofore been furnished complete
list of officers and men carried as
missing up to February /. All units
are required to display such list in
places accessible to members of COM
mand for the purpose of securing cas-
ualty information from every possible
source. This expedient is resulting In
locating hitherto unknown caves and
identification showing present status
and whereabouts of many battle cas-
ualties.
Consideration should be given to
fact that method of warfare as we'll
as the extent of terrain fought over
let exceptional difficulties to discov-
cry and brutal of dead. Burial parties
frequently completed their men under
heavy fire and often that could only
be done under cover Of darkness thus
making Identification difficult and Of
ten impossible. Reburials are now
furnishing means of Identification In
a great majority of such cases. For
this reason grave registration and
chaplain reports are being again in
vestigated. small percentage of
such reports Investigated are proving
to be cases of American dead pre-
viously unreported as such. AS rapid
ly as Identification can be completed
from information originally filed. or
subsequently obtained from every pos
sible source. correct lpresent status
of each case is being reported by
cable"