61 STAT.] SOTH CONG. , 1ST SESS.-CH. 497-AUG. 5 , 1947 [CHAPTER 497] AN ACT To amend the Act entitled "An Act to provide for the evacuation and return of the remains of certain persons who died and are buried outside the continental limits of the United States", approved May 16, 1946, in order to provide for the shipment of the remains of World War II dead to the homeland of the deceased or of next of kin, to provide for the disposition of group and mass burials, to provide for the burial of unknown American World War II dead in United States military cemeteries to be established overseas, to authorize the Secretary of War to acquire land overseas and to establish United States mili- tary cemeteries thereon, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled That the Act of May 16, 1946, entitled "An Act to provide for the evacuation and return of the remains of certain persons who died and are buried outside the continental limits of the United States" (Public Law 383, Seventy-ninth Congress), is hereby amended to read as follows: "That the Congress hereby declares it to be in the public interest to provide for the interment of the remains of certain persons who died on or after September 3, 1939, and whose remains are buried in places located outside the continental limits of the United States and could not be returned to their homeland for burial due to wartime shipping restrictions, by authorizing their permanent interment out- side the continental limits of the United States or their evacuation and return either to their homeland or to the homeland of their next of kin, and to centralize in one agency the task of accomplishing the purpose of this Act. "SEC. 2. All activities herein provided for are hereby made a respon- sibility of the Secretary of War, except as expressly reserved to the American Battle Monuments Commission by section 9 of this Act. "SEC. 3 . The Secretary of War is hereby authorized and directed upon application by the next of kin in the case of individual identified remains to return such remains to the homeland of the decedent or of his next of kin for interment at places designated by the next of kin, including national cemeteries provided such remains are entitled to interment therein; and he is further authorized at his own discre- tion in the case of group or mass burials, which include the remains of one or more known individuals, to cause them to be interred in such places as he may direct: Provided, That this Act shall apply only to the remains of persons who died on or after September 3, 1939, and are buried outside the continental limits of the United States, and who were- "(a) members of the armed forces of the United States who died in the service; "(b) civilian officers and employees of the United States; "(c) citizens of the United States who served in the armed forces of any government at war with Germany, Italy, or Japan and who died while in such service and who were citizens of the United States at the time of such service; "(d) citizens of the United States whose homes are in fact in the United States and whose death outside the continental limits thereof can be directly attributed to the war or who died while employed or otherwise engaged in activities contributing to the prosecution of the war; and "(e) such other citizens of the United States, the disposition of the remains of whom under the provisions of this Act would, in the discretion of the Secretary of War, serve the public interest. "SEC. 4. With respect to the remains of all persons who are included in the categories set forth in the preceding section of this Act, the 779 August 5,1947 [H. R. 3394] [Public Law 368] Return of remains of certain persons buried outside U. S . 60 Stat. 182. 50U.8.0. app. §§ 1811-1816. Responsibility. Identified remains. Applicability. Interment in mlli- tary cemeteries out- side U. 8.
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