The British Army start using ID discs in 1907 when it was decided that all soldiers should wear a single metal tag, with name, rank, number, regiment and religion stamped on it. On 21st August 1914 it was decided to move away from a metal tag to a single compressed vulcanized rubber one which was red in colour.

In the field regulations of October 1914 it stated that “Anyone concerned with burying a soldier, or finding a body after an action, will remove the identity disc and pay book”.

But the powers that be had not taken into account the destructive power of weapons in WWI and had thus allowed a flaw to remain in its guidance relating to the administration of casualties.

By removing the two key forms of identification from a body, the possibility of misidentification of the dead became more likely.

On 24th September 1916, a second disc was introduced and so a soldier now had to wear two compressed fiber discs, one red and one green. Both discs contained the same information but a change in the rules covering the handling of bodies said that the green octagonal disc should remain with the body.

Some soldiers didn’t rely on the fact that these compressed discs would survive some battle field conditions. Private Leigh from the 10th Parachute Battalion made some stainless steel ID tags for himself, as can be seen in one of the photographs.

However, due to several other factors, this didn’t seem to work in a number of cases during the Battle of Arnhem.

No.1 Some ID discs were taken from the body, and handed over to Officers who in some cases were killed themselves, and as such they got lost.

No.2 In one case they were handed over to a Dutch Doctor, who lost them during the evacuation.

No.3 From 23-09-1944, the Germans ordered the evacuation of Arnhem, and later also surrounding places like, Oosterbeek, Wolfheze, Renkum, Heelsum. It would be some 7 months later that the first people were able to return. In the meantime only a few soldiers had been able to buried and added to the casualty register.

This meant that some casualties that have been left unburied had lost their ID discs due to them disintegrating in the elements.

No.4  It is said that some German soldiers who received ID discs and other forms of identification threw them away, or even didn’t bother to hand them over to the Red Cross.

It is known that on the body of a death German soldier near Elst an ID disc was found of a British soldier who was killed.

No.5 It is also know that is some cases, for whatever the reason, some men had ID disc on them which belonged to other soldiers and were buried as such.

When later it turned out that the "dead"man had in fact survived, the grave was changed to that of an unknown soldier.

Because the fighting took place over a relatively short period, but within a very areas (eg Arnhem bridge area-Oosterbeek0.

There were many places where wounded were tended to and subsequently died of their wounds.

Some were brought in without any forms of identification, others were stripped so they could be operated on and if they died, and nobody was around to identified them, they could not be named.

Also casualties could not always be buried, due to the heavy fighting and these bodies were often stacked up in or outside with out without any clothing or any form of ID.

When 1st Airborne Division evacuated the area, these bodies were left behind to be  buried by the Germans, or in most cases, the Red-cross volunteers or by members of the local population who were ordered by the Germans to do so.

Some of the missing men will, sadly, never be found or identified. This is due to the fact that the body was literally “blown to pieces” by enemy fire or, as in the case with one Glider Pilot, “friendly fire” when he accidentally walked in front of a 75mm Howitzer just as it was fired during the night near the old church at Oosterbeek. Also, one has to remember that there was much fighting and shelling later on in the war when the Arnhem/Oosterbeek area was finally liberated. Graves which may have been properly marked at the end of September may have been lost during the subsequent fighting in 1945.

In some cases, bodies were identified by army pay books, or other forms of ID found on them shortly after the battle,or in some cases after the war.

It is known that a body was found in a glider, and it was identified by the documents in the battledress. the relevant family was informed but they already heard from the soldier that he was POW.

It transpired that the POW had swapped places with the soldier who was subsequently killed and accidentally left his battledress on his original seat.

When the glider crashed, the soldier on his seat was killed, and when he was found it was assumed that the battledress belonged to him.

Another soldier was identified by the dog tags in his gasmask bag, but these turned out to belonged to another different soldier who was a POW.

Already after the landings on the 18th, the Germans started to set fire to the gliders,  some of which contained the bodies of dead men, Also, some bodies were left close to the gliders and they burned as well.

After the Battle, the Germans priority was, naturally, to have their casualties buried first, and only later did they bother with the allied death.

In some cases civilians and also prisoners were forced into burial parties. Also the Red Cross and Air Raid Wardens formed burial parties.

In a number of cases documents or other forms of identification found on the allied bodies were handed over to the Germans, but it is also known that civilians kept, documents or jewelry from the Germans and handed it over to Allied soldiers on their return in 1945.

It is also known that in May 1945 a farmer in Kesteren, was ordered by an American Officer, to burn the remains of soldiers which were found not to be buried, but also bodies that were already had been buried, were being digged up and burned.

He states that he burned at least 100 bodies before he was ordered to stop this, it is not known how many of the bodies were Allied soldiers.

The graves of some of those who were killed and buried around Arnhem Bridge were lost when the US Airforce bombed the Bridge on 6^th and 7^th October, causing great damage and fire in the buildings and surrounding area.

Aircrew members who are still missing were probably buried  with the wreckage of their planes because the bodies were too badly damaged to be identified.

cases happened when they were killed when their plane crashed and were  beyond recognition or their bodies could not be salvaged from the plane and are still buried with wreckage.

The is alo the case with some Gliders Pilot that were shot down or crashed.

It is known that civilians who returned home after the evacuation, took rifles or helmets from a field grave, not releasing that the grave might get lost.

It is also known that a Dutch photographer drove around the area with a white War Grave Cross and helmet and took photographs at several locations, which gave the false impression of a fieldgrave location.

Even in the years after the war, people didn't realize the importance of personal belongings or other forms of identification should stay with the remains when handed over to the Police or War Grave Unit.

For example in 1977, the remains of a soldier were found, but before the police arrived some children took away a button stick with an army number on it.

Another example, happened in March 2003, when remains and a pair of british army shoes were found, buried in a plastic shopping bag! at the Van Lennepweg in Oosterbeek, It seemed that someone with a detector found the remains and instead of contacting Police, possible took some souvenirs from the remains, and reburied the rest. When the Police had been informed,the war grave unit might have been able to do some more research on the remains and other possible found equipment.