ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 abstract: This chapter will show how the families of the American World War dead challenged the War Department’s assertion of complete control over the remains of the overseas war dead. Families pushed the Department to return the dead quickly, in part because of their wish to ensure that the dead were buried as families wished, but also because they feared that the Department would be unable to accurately return the dead. Many families wanted to ensure that the dead were returned before bodies were no longer recognizable, and families negotiated with the Department over whether they could or should open the coffin they received. Some went further, seeking to circumvent the Department’s role by traveling to Europe for themselves, attending exhumations, insisting that errors in paperwork and grave markers were corrected, and questioning the government’s identification of the dead. When they felt they needed to, families also sought assistance from the press and members of Congress to help them convince the Department to modify its policies and meet family demands.
