Body bag

The purpose of the bag, as stated in the patent application dated July 21, 1863 was, "... to facilitate the carrying of badly-wounded dead bodies hurriedly away that could not otherwise be quickly removed for the want of proper conveyances, or difficulty to procure boxes or coffins for removing the dead, as the boxes or coffins cannot be so easily transported or handled on the field of battle."

In any case, a conventional toe tag can easily be tied to one of the lifting handles if required or used to bind two zippers to show a lack of tampering.

Although body bags are most often used for the transport of human remains from their place of discovery to a funeral home or mortuary, they can also be used for temporary burials such as in a combat zone.

This was the situation during the Falklands War of 1982, during which British dead were placed in gray plastic body bags and then laid in mass graves.

Some months after the conflict ended, all remains were exhumed from their temporary graves to receive a conventional funeral service with full military honors.

During the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in the mid-2000s the military began using body bags as a rapid means of delivering ammunition, supplies, batteries, rations, water cans, and other items to small units in the field.

Upon landing they were quickly shoved out the doors and troops on the ground grabbed the carrying handles and dragged them to cover as the helicopters departed.