In 1948 the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) began the disinterment process of Chinese men buried in Oregon cemeteries in order to return the remains to China.

Mo Chong Way, then the president of the CCBA, explained in this 1948 affidavit that the organization intended to apply for the necessary permits from the Oregon State Board of Health to disinter the remains of Chinese men from various Oregon cemeteries.

Although there is evidence of a previous shipment of human remains twenty years earlier, the 1948-1949 disinterment was the last of its kind by the organization.  

Document on Left - Affidavit by Mo Chong Way, president of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, to the Oregon State Board of Health regarding the disinterment of Chinese remains, August 1948.

20 Years Prior...

In 1928 the CCBA organized the disinterment of over 600 men. In a letter within this collection [Shipping Documents: Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association Letter] W.L. Sun, CCBA Executive Secretary and Secretary on American Relations, states it is the CCBA's "established rule to disinter human remains for shipment to China every twenty years."

Document on Left - Roster of 1928 Shipment of Remains. This document includes the names and hometowns of the disinterred.