The Vietnam War: what happened to dead Americans

For those who wonder how a dead soldier’s body is collected and transported home, this post on Answers.com explains in frank terms — no doubt by someone who has seen active duty — how it was done during the Vietnam War. Emphases mine below:

During the Vietnam War, dead US Soldiers/Marines/Sailors, when the fighting was bad, were piled up onto tanks or swift boats (alpha boats, monitors, PBYs, etc), and taken to a collection point where their bodies were tagged and bagged.

During short or isolated firefights in distant mountains/jungles, dead GI’s were dragged or carried by other men, again, to a collection point (a designated spot on the ground to place the bodies). Other than the fireman carry (a dead man carried across your shoulders), the most common method was tying the dead man’s boot laces together (this forms a handle), then dragging him by his boot laces to a collection point. The biggest problem with dragging dead servicemen on the battlefield is that their uniforms (clothing) come off during the dragging process. Plus personal belongings are spread out over the area traversed during the movement; becoming lost (wallets, watches, dog-tags, rings, photographs, eye-glasses, can openers, knives, etc). Once the clothing rips off (pulls off) MOST men, for reasons as yet un-explained, are hesitant upon grabbing (touching) any part of the actual dead GI; BUT it becomes necessary to grab the deceased man’s hand, wrist, arm, leg, etc. in order to CONTINUE transporting him to the collection point. Sometimes a little bit of yelling and profanity is used to get the carrying men in motion (instead of just staring or freezing up), after a few dead bodies have been dragged away, your mind goes numb and a man can continue touching (handling) dead men without much hesitation.

Once at the collection point, the dead men are placed onto a chopper (any chopper), if there’s too many dead, and the place is still hot (dangerous), the bodies are thrown onto the bird, to expedite the evacuation of casualties. From there, they’re flown to a large US Military base in country to be processed by the medical corps for shipment home. They’ll arrive home in aluminum coffins.