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Far too many men who went to war in Europe in World War II have never been found and identified. Many have been found who have not been identified. This page is an attempt to list all of the numbers that were assigned to unknowns, as well as the associated information about where and when they were recovered and their names, if they were subsequently identified.
I realized that I needed a list like this in my own research. Often, when I examine one man's IDPF, I find that he was recovered with someone who was shown only with an unknown-number (e.g. X-2319). It would be very useful in my research to know who the other man was and to obtain his IDPF and see if it has more information that can shed light on the situation in which they died.
I tried to obtain one from the American Battle Monuments Commission, since the Ardennes US Military Cemetery (at Neupré-en-Condroz, Belgium) was the place where remains were sent for possible identification -- and is thus the cemetery with the greatest number of burials of unknowns. However, my efforts were in vain. So I am going to just start a spreadsheet of what I find in the records that I do have. I'll post the spreadsheet information, in case it is of use to others.
One useful tool in all this will be the American Battle Monuments Commission's World War II Honor Roll. Another important tool is the World War II Registry of the National World War II Memorial.
There is also a Grave Registration Information section following the list of unknowns. This section provides bibliographical information on links to documents and web sites with relevant information. At this time, it is a very simple section.
I will reply to queries about any of the ones on this page. I'm really swamped and my health has definite limits, especially from October-May. So I will not be able to reply very promptly, and I cannot give you more information about any man who is not on this page. Having read that, if your inquiry is truly relevant to this page, you can contact me by clicking here.
See the end of the page for a list of the temporary U. S. military cemeteries in the ETO.
Clearly one would think that there must have been a master list of all the X-numbers assigned in the European Theater. Yet, when one family of a still-missing man asked for such a list, they were told (2009) that no such list existed" "There is currently no master list of all X-numbered files for the ETO."
At last, I have found definitive evidence that such a list did in fact exist as late as 1960. In the investigation of remains X-9345 (Frankfurt Mausoleum), there was a need to find information about another X-number, and the investigators documented that they had sought that X-number in "Roster in Disposition Branch showing disposition of Unknown X-Nos. (remains)". So there clearly was just such a list. So the question remains "Where is the official roster of Unknown X-numbers?"
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Which bears a sword Can pierce an armed man. It hurls its barbed syllables, And is mute again. But where it fell The saved will tell On patriotic day, Some epauletted brother Gave his breath away. |
Wherever roams the day, There is its noiseless onset, There is its victory! Behold the keenest marksman! The most accomplished shot! Time’s sublimest target Is a soul “forgot”! ----- Emily Dickinson |
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The American World War II Orphans Network (AWON) is an organization created by and for those who lost their father in World War II. AWON has an annual conference and a newsletter filled with useful information. Click here to go to the AWON web page and find those who share your experience. |
I know of at least two numbering systems: T-numbers and X-numbers. T-numbers appear to have been used only in Holland, and may have been for remains recovered by the British, though I am not certain of that. (Some X-numbers (such as X-1913) were recovered in Holland. My conjecture is that these were recovered by US Graves Registration.) I also think it is likely that the high X-numbers (X-8000 and above) were for remains recovered well after the war had ended.
All other numbers are in black.
Yet another numbering system was the case numbers for non-recoverable remains. For example, Aloysius Gonsowski (X-9438) was originally (in 1950) considered non-recoverable in case # 14421. There was even yet another numbering system, in which Gonsowski was # 9158, on a 30 Aug 1947 memo included with a 20 Aug 1950 memorandum concerning the 7887 Graves Registration Detachment decision of non-recoverability of Holland Cases # 810, 1756, 2215, 4820, 5178, 5205, 5364, 8853, 8858, 8867, 9158 [Gonsowski], 9373, 9386, 9436, 9454, 9467, 10162, 10227, 10459, 10460, 10483, 10522, 10533, 10540, 11637, 11702, 5790, 10490, 5823, 9370, 8748, 9167, 5773, 5738, 9796, 8770, 9435, 1983. While these numbers were definitely extremely important to the process, I am not currently capturing these numbers, since the focus here is to try to identify specific unknowns mentioned in documents by their numbers.
In the list below, the T-numbers (in blue) are listed first and then the X-numbers (in red), in numerical order in each case. If there is no name after the number, then I do not know who the number belongs to.
There were other numbering schemes also used. For example, when a man went missing, he was assigned a case number. At this time, I am not trying to tie the unknown numbers back to the case numbers -- just to the names of the men, if they were identified or to the location and date at which still-unidentified remains were recovered.
293: The number 293 appears on some files, not as an X-number but as a number that appears often with a man's name. I have also seen this referenced as "QMG MR 293" (Tibensky IDPF) and "QMGMF 293" (Nevins IDPF) and "QMGMU 293" (Nevins IDPF) and "293 file" (Nevins IDPF). The QMG Form 1916 (Non-Recoverable Case Record of Review and Approval) speficially lists "293 File of Subject(s)" as the first file to be reviewed. So it seems that "293" was some sort of classification, arising from a form 293 having been created for the individual, perhaps of men who were missing but had not yet been recovered. All of the memoranda relating to board proceedings regarding decisions on non-recoverable remains have "GROP 293.9" at the top of the page, usually on the same line as the date. And other documents have "RRE 293.9 (IB)" and "GRU 293" at the top.
371: The number 371 which appears in many men's files refers to the Office of the Quartermaster General form OQMG 371 "DATA ON REMAINS NOT YET RECOVERED OR IDENTIFIED".
| During my tenure, all of the "X-numbers" were accountable and controlled by the appropriate cemetery. We in the field were allocated a block of numbers by a cemetery and were accountable to them for the numbers. When we used a number, everything in the case dossier bore that number and the dossier was delivered to the cemetery with the remains and his personal effects. Since the dossiers effectively became the property of the cemetery, it follows that those records must reside at those cemeteries, unless they were "retired" to some other location |
Online Resources
British Records
Many American remains, especially in the Netherlands, were first found and documented by the British. Sometimes these records appear in the Individual Deceased Personnel Files of the Americans, but most of the time, the IDPFs contain only the American records. Thus it is very important to find the British records that document American remains and also assign a T-number to unidentified remains. The British Army's Directorate of Graves Registration and Enquiries was establised in World War I and is the counterpart of the U. S. Graves Registration Service. Thus far, I have not researched their records, but the following web sites appear to have information that will be useful for such a search.
This list is incomplete and still under construction.