text: Chapter 4
  * Date and place of capture or death; and
  * Particulars concerning wounds, illness, or cause of death.
  4-14. Each party must forward this information as soon as possible to its POW information bureau (see
  paragraph 3-100 through 3-103), which must transmit the information to the power upon which the person
  depends through the intermediary of the Protecting Power and of the Central POW agency. Parties to the
  conflict must also prepare and forward certificates of death and/or authenticated lists of the dead and must
  ensure items such as identification discs (frequently referred to as dog tags) of the deceased, last wills, other
  documents of importance to the next of kin, money, or any other item of an intrinsic or sentimental value,
  which are found on the dead are collected and forwarded through these channels in accordance with the GWS
  (see GWS, art. 16).
  4-15. Burials or cremation of deceased personnel under the GWS must be preceded by a careful examination,
  if possible by a medical examination, of the bodies with a view to confirm the death, establish identity of the
  deceased, and enable a report of death to be made. One half of the double-identity disc (or the disc, itself, if
  it is a single disc) should be left with the body of the deceased interred on land. Cremation may only occur
  for imperative reasons of hygiene or for motives based on the religion of the deceased. The dead must be
  honorably interred, if possible, according to the rites of the religion to which they belonged. At the
  commencement of hostilities, a graves registration service must be established to allow for subsequent
  exhumations and to ensure the identification of bodies and possible transportation to the home country. The
  graves registration service will also keep ashes until they may be properly disposed of in accordance with the
  wishes of the home country. Lists showing the exact location and markings of the graves must be exchanged
  between parties to the conflict; this will facilitate post-conflict return of remains to the next-of-kin, a practice
  encouraged by the United States (GWS art. 17; consider AP I art. 32-34).
  VOLUNTARY CARE
  4-16. The military authorities may appeal for volunteers from the local inhabitants to assist with the
  collection and care for, under the respective military authority’s direction, the wounded and sick under the
  GWS. Once volunteers are identified, they are to receive necessary protection and facilities. Should the
  adverse Party take or retake control of the area, that Party must likewise grant these persons the same
  protection and the same facilities. No one must ever be molested or convicted for having given aid or care to
  the wounded and sick (GWS art. 18; consider AP I art. 17). On the other hand, local inhabitants’ voluntarily
  giving treatment to the wounded and sick do not relieve military authorities of their obligations to care for
  the wounded and sick.
  MEDICAL UNITS, FACILITIES, PERSONNEL, AND GROUND
  TRANSPORTS
  4-17. Military medical units and facilities, military medical personnel and chaplains, and medical ground
  transports must not be made the object of attack and are entitled to respect and protection at all times (see
  GWS arts. 19, 24, 35, 36; GWS Sea art. 23). For example, medical units and establishments are entitled to
  respect and protection even when they have not yet received any wounded or when no more wounded are
  with them for the moment. The respect and protection accorded by the GWS to military units and facilities
  mean that they must not knowingly be attacked, fired upon, or unnecessarily prevented from discharging
  their proper functions.
  LOSS OF PROTECTION
  4-18. If military medical units or facilities are used to commit, outside their humanitarian duties, acts harmful
  to the enemy, they may forfeit their special LOAC protections, but only after due warning (with, in all
  appropriate cases, a reasonable time limit), and only after such warning has remained unheeded (GWS art.
  21; DOD Law of War Manual, 7.10.3). Consistent with DOD policy, misuse of the protected status of any
  military medical unit or facility, or medical ground transport, whether by U.S. forces, coalition forces, or
  enemy forces, should be reported immediately through the chain of command to the appropriate combatant
  commander (see DODD 2311.01E).