Flanagan, Thomas S (Oral history)

American private served with 3047 Graves Registration Coy, US Army, in North West Europe 1944-1945

REEL 1 Recollections of operations with 3047 Graves Registration Coy in North West Europe, 1944-1945: voyage to Normandy 7/1944, after D-Day; character of landing on Utah Beach; initial camp in orchard; contact with French civilians; work improving roads; background to posting to unit in GB; role of unit; danger of booby trapped dead bodies; clerical and liaison work; identification procedures and problems encountered; identification and treatment of German dead; use of mattress covers; lack of religious services; reasons for quick clearing of dead; percentage of accidental deaths; burial of hanged men; personal morale; use of French civilians and German POWs to dig graves. REEL 2 Continues: details recorded of causes of death; discipline in unit; exchanging rations with French civilians; state of countryside; character of billets; opinion of rations and recreation; black-market alcohol; move to Alencon; importance of mail; move to Duren; VE Day in Maastricht; reaction to dropping of atomic bomb on Japan; attitude towards Japanese and Germans; morale; lessons from military service.