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Show Outlines Policy For Servicemen Buried Overseas OGDEN, UTAH Letters of Inquiry to the next of kin of service personnel per-sonnel who are buried overseas to determine the final disposition of the remains desired are scheduled to be mailed this month to residents resi-dents concerned in Utah, according to an announcement by Col. O. W. Humphries, commanding officer of the Utah General Depot, Ogden. The depot has been designated as one of 15 distribution centers in the United States for the repatriation repatria-tion of World War II dead. It will serve the states of Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Nevada Ne-vada and eastern Oregon. Since 1866 the Quartermaster Corps has been responsible for the burial of American war dead. Following Fol-lowing action last May by Congress Con-gress and President Harry S. Truman, Tru-man, the Office of the Quartermaster Quartermas-ter General has once again embarked em-barked on this important mission. Mr. Truman inaugurated the program, pro-gram, to be executed by the American Amer-ican Graves Registration Service, in a recent message to the Quartermaster Quar-termaster General of the Army Maj. Gen. T. B. Larkin. In his message Mr. Truman said: "In deep and everlasting appreciation apprecia-tion of the heroic efforts of those who, in keeping their country free, made the supreme sacrifice in World Wor-ld War II the entire nation has been dedicated to disposing of the mortal remains of those honored dead in a manner consistant with the wishes of their next of kin." The president's message will be included as part of a brochure the Office of the Quartermaster General Gener-al will send to the next of kin at the time an official request is made for the relative's wishes regarding , final burial. It is the intention of the Quartermaster Quarter-master Corps to carry out the feasible feas-ible wishes of the next of kin, and it has formulated four options from which relatives concerned may select se-lect one. The next of kin may decide to have the remains buried in a permanent per-manent U.S. military cemetery over seas; to have the remains returned to the United States for burial in a private cemetery; to have the remains re-mains returned to this country for burial in a national cemetery, or to have the remains interred in a private cemetery in a foreign country, coun-try, the homeland of the deceased or of the next of kin. Until the remains are returned to the place designated by relatives, rela-tives, the American Graves Registration Regis-tration Service will recognize no intermediary in-termediary in its contacts with the relatives concerned. However, if the next of kin elect burial in a private cemetery, trie relatives, or their authorized egents, become responsible for funeral arrangements arrange-ments after the body is returned to them. . The task of recovering and in-dentifying in-dentifying the bodies of the dead and assembling them in temporary overseas cemeteries is far advanced. advanc-ed. "Indentification of the remains will be positive," Colonel Blair declared. de-clared. " In no case will the remains re-mains be turned over to the next of kin if there is the slightest doubt in indentification," he assured. |