JFJ/jw

Office of the Division Surgeon
Camp Jackson, Columbia, S.C.
January 22, 1918

MEMORANDUM FOR CHIEF OF STAFF:

1. In compliance with verbal instructions to investigate the condition of the remains of the late Private Howard, shipped to his home January 1, 1918 for burial, I submit the following report.

(a) Private Howard died at Base Hospital, December 31, 1917 with Cerebro-spinal Meningitis and according to custom the body was prepared for shipment at the morgue, Base Hospital, being put in a casket and hermetically sealed, to comply with regulations of the State of South Carolina regarding deaths from contagious diseases.

(b) The undertaker acknowledges that the contract he has with the Government requires him to shave, bathe and properly clothe all bodies prior to their shipment or burial and he claims that this was done in this soldier’s case. Until recently he has been able to do most of this work himself but since his contract with the Government he has hired two men to assist him and it was one of these that prepared the remains of Private Howard.

(c) The establishment of the undertaker was inspected by me and found to be clean and orderly but very small, having only one small room to prepare bodies. It is believed by me that at the time Private Howard died the undertaker was rushed and that, as this man had died of a contagious disease and would be sealed at this place, he neglected to properly prepare the remains.

J. F. Johnson,
Major, M. C., U. S. Army.

Enclosed in: 1918, Jan. 23. McIver to Bickett.