description
Object description
American private served with 3047th Graves Registration Coy, Quartermaster Graves Registration Service, US Army, in North West Europe, 7/1944-8/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of operations as private with 3047th Graves Registration Coy, Quartermaster Graves Registration Service, US Army in North West Europe, 7/1944-8/1945: voyage from GB to Normandy, France, 7/1944, landing on Utah Beach, Normandy, France, 7/1944; 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, France; importance of mail; move to Duren, Germany; VE Day in Maastricht, Netherlands, 8/5/1945; reaction to dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; attitude towards Japanese and Germans; morale; lessons learnt from military service.
