# In the (US) military, is it forbidden, or considered dishonorable, to relieve a dead enemy's corpse of his valuables? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 21, 2025, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167 "2025-10-21T15:06:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2025, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167/41 "2025-11-02T19:07:28Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > ETA: the prized German trophy item was actually the SS ceremonial dagger, which was worn by officers in field uniforms I wonder if it is possible that in the story the dagger and a “sword’ got mixed up. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2025, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167/42 "2025-11-02T21:49:24Z")
There are also ways that a soldier might end up in possession of an enemy officer’s dress uniform. For instance, if the officer keeps it in a trunk in his quarters, but those quarters get overrun. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167/43 "2025-11-07T01:10:59Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > If you watch “The Pacific” on HBO Max or read the books it’s based on, you’ll find out far more than you want to know about how US Marines treated dead (or wounded) Japanese soldiers. Yeah, and if you read about what the Japanese had done to Allied military members you can see how it all started. It was a pretty vicious war. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167/44 "2025-11-07T01:11:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > For instance, if the officer keeps it in a trunk in his quarters, but those quarters get overrun Did that happen often? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167/45 "2025-11-07T01:17:45Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Did that happen often? Clearly yes, given that the Germans had to have their quarters somewhere, and by the end of the war, all of German territory was overrun. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167/46 "2025-11-07T01:22:51Z")
Oh yeah, my bad I keep forgetting that there was that thing going on in Europe at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167/47 "2025-11-11T01:02:46Z")
I was in the Army but never in combat. But if I’d had the chance to grab stuff on the battlefield I sure would have. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167/48 "2025-11-12T00:52:50Z")
> [@kipling](#): > > If you’ve ever stole a pheasant-egg be’ind the keeper’s back, > If you’ve ever snigged the washin’ from the line, > If you’ve ever crammed a gander in your bloomin’ ‘aversack, > You will understand this little song o’ mine. > But the service rules are ‘ard, an’ from such we are debarred, > For the same with English morals does not suit. (Cornet: Toot! toot!) > W’y, they call a man a robber if 'e stuffs ‘is marchin’ clobber > With the– Cassette tapes were important when I was young. I was fairly un-impressed when I found out that tape recording was a looted technology. The man involved was US Army doing official US Army technology looting (unimpressive in itself), but someone the equipment ended up in his personal possession, and he made a living post-war using the tape equipment for professional recording. Eventually he copied the equipment he’d taken. Unimpressive, because I’d grown up on stories of how the Russians rolled up German equipment and took it east (they did), but not on stories of how the Americans were doing the same. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167/49 "2025-11-12T12:57:28Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Unimpressive, because I’d grown up on stories of how the Russians rolled up German equipment and took it east (they did), but not on stories of how the Americans were doing the same. You never heard of Wernher von Braun and [Operation Paperclip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip)? It seems like it world be negligent not to acquire military technology from an enemy if you can. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167/50 "2025-11-12T13:23:47Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I was in the Army but never in combat. But if I’d had the chance to grab stuff on the battlefield I sure would have. Just bear in mind that another reason not to grab stuff off of bodies on the battlefield is that unless you saw the guy go down yourself and you had eyes on him the entire time, there’s a chance a body might be booby-trapped. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167/51 "2025-11-13T23:42:30Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > You never heard of Wernher von Braun and [Operation Paperclip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip)? It seems like it world be negligent not to acquire military technology from an enemy if you can. 1. I’ve heard of that _now_. 2. That’s military technology, not civilian broadcast radio equipment 3. Recruitment of Nazi’s was a _secret_ program, partly because we were ashamed of what we were doing. > [@Article 103 - Captured or Abandoned Property](#): > > (a) buys, sells, trades, or in any way deals in or disposes of captured or abandoned property, whereby he receives or expects any profit, benefit, or a advantage to himself or another directly or indirectly connected with himself; I don’t know if they had a article 103 at the time, that they were pretending to respect, but technology looting was not the picture of the noble American rescue of Europe I was brought up on. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2025, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167/52 "2025-11-14T01:30:00Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Unimpressive, because I’d grown up on stories of how the Russians rolled up German equipment and took it east (they did), but not on stories of how the Americans were doing the same. Just to note, those were war reparations, not looting. The Soviet Union was far from the only Allied country to take entire factories from occupied Germany in reparations for the damage, slave labor and mass murder inflicted upon them by the Nazis. [World War II reparations - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_reparations#Soviet_Union) > The Soviet Union received compensation under the Paris Peace Treaty in 1947 from four Axis allied powers, in addition to the large reparations paid to the Soviet Union by the [Soviet Occupation Zone in Germany](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_occupation_zone) and the eventual [German Democratic Republic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Germany) in the form of machinery (entire factories were dismantled and shipped to the Soviet Union) as well as food, industrial products, and consumer goods. The USSR was owed $100 million from Italy, $300 million from Finland, $200 million from Hungary, and $300 million from Romania,[[65]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_reparations#cite_note-65) amounting to approximately $12 billion in total in 2022. Believe it or not, the US Coast Guard still operates a sailing ship taken as war reparations from Germany at the end of WW2. [USCGC Eagle (WIX-327) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCGC_Eagle_(WIX-327)) ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2025, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167/53 "2025-11-14T16:03:44Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Yeah, and if you read about what the Japanese had done to Allied military members you can see how it all started. It was a pretty vicious war. Oh yeah, I was just pointing out that bringing back body parts of dead Japanese soldiers wasn’t a unique event. > [@Melbourne](#): > > Recruitment of Nazi’s was a _secret_ program, partly because we were ashamed of what we were doing. So I’m going by very old memories too, but I’m pretty sure von Braun’s contributions to the USA rockets & space program was public knowledge and not at all a secret. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2025, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167/54 "2025-11-14T16:26:41Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > So I’m going by very old memories too, but I’m pretty sure von Braun’s contributions to the USA rockets & space program was public knowledge and not at all a secret. “‘Once the rockets go up, who cares where they come down? It’s not my department!’ says Werner von Braun.” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2025, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167/55 "2025-11-14T21:11:08Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > , $300 million from Finland, Boy, considering the USSR was at fault for invading Finland in the first place, that was a raw deal. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2025, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167/56 "2025-11-20T03:28:35Z")
> [@Captain WM BRAITHWAITE](#): > > [**Captain WM BRAITHWAITE, MC:**](https://anzac22ndbattalion.wordpress.com/letters-of-captain-wm-braithwaite-mc/) **14th October 1917** > You would see a bunch of Germans rushing down with their hands up and Billgims ratting him for souvenirs. There is very little information about Australian soldiers “souveniring” stuff in WWI – except in their letters home. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2025, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167/57 "2025-11-20T04:58:53Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > There is very little information about Australian soldiers “souveniring” stuff in WWI – except in their letters home. Some more here - and quite detailed: [https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/andrew-rule/our-souvenir-king-john-barney-hines-killed-because-he-was-good-at-it/news-story/d7a3122caf0cb00872b2b5632944bea2](https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/andrew-rule/our-souvenir-king-john-barney-hines-killed-because-he-was-good-at-it/news-story/d7a3122caf0cb00872b2b5632944bea2) and slightly less journalese: [https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/52296](https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/52296) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167.md?page=2)