Hey all-

My Grandfather was in WWII and unfortunately i never got a chance to speak to him about his experiences. As is common, he never talked about it with the family and all we know is that he was in 'the clean up crew' that went overseas. I'm wondering what exactly that means and what he would have been responsible for.
Thanks in advance.
Eryn

I would guess he was referring to himself as one of the people who took away the dead bodies from the battlefield after it was all over.

I too think he may have been a member of the burial squads. Very little is known or has been written about this most unglamorous but necessary task.

I can only find one quote - in Belfield & Essame's 'Battle For Normandy', by an unidentified member of such a squad who were faced with the horrors of the Falaise pocket ; -

'Sure, there were lots of guys we never identified. You know what a direct hit by a shell does to a guy. Or a mine, or a solid hit with a grenade, even...sometimes all we have is a leg or a piece of arm.
There's only one stink and that's it. You never get used to it, either. As long as you live, you never get used to it'. ( p219)

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Also some stories in the Belton Y Cooper´s "Death traps" on tanks that would be repaired for new battles after their original crews had died in battle. It seems that the tank would be good as long as the electic circuits were ok in the turret but even if the tank was very little damaged but the electric circuits were burnt then the tank was no good anymore. But the smell of "death" could never be removed.

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