A former neighbor of ours, now deceased, served in WWII and Korea. I interviewed him many years ago for an article marking the 50th anniversary of the Korean war. His sole job in Korea was unloading bloodied corpses that were brought in from the battlefield - day after day.
@mountaineer I met a guy back in the late 70's from a small country town where he had lived all his life,and he had been drafted into the army during the VN,sent to VN,and assigned to a Graves Registration Unit. I might have the title wrong,but his job,as an 18 year old away from home for the first time in his life,was to go over battlefields after a fight and police up the bodies,and the parts of bodies of American troops and then try to match the parts with the bodies,and bring them back to the Graves Registration Unit he was assigned to.
The VN bodies were just pushed into a big hole using a bulldozer,and covered up.
This was maybe the saddest,quietest,man I have ever met. Didn't even date or get married until his 30's and even then it was a widow wanting a good husband that snatched him up and basically told him to marry her.
Probably the best thing that ever happened to him. He was already married to her when I met him,but she gave him a safe place to stay and seemed to be very protective of him. Even to the point where she would sometimes answer questions for him when he was in one of his "moods",and would just stare at the floor.
Worked for both of them,and I am glad they found each other.
Still,I can get a little depressed even today just thinking about the horrors this innocent young boy had to face against his will.
AND....,the army being the army,I met a guy at Bragg after coming back from VN who was a 3rd Generation undertaker from a family in Ohio. He also got drafted during the VN war,and the freaking army made HIM a radio operator!
Sometimes there just ain't no rhyme or reason for stuff.