This is the iconic battlefield memorial for a modern soldier - empty boots at the base, rifle stuck into the ground between the heels bayonet-first, with the helmet of the fallen on the top and a set of his dog tags twined into the trigger guard, to identify the fallen warrior underneath.

Anecdotes from soldiers serving in both theaters in WWII reveal that neither the Japanese nor the Germans would defile such a grave, despite the possibility of salvaging weapons or other matériel, or the desire to defile an opponent. The weapon itself would have been unusable, having first had critical operating parts removed and carried away or destroyed, but the boots, helmet, and uniform of the fallen could have been salvaged for any number of purposes.

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