On Tarawa he had seen the bodies of men who had died facedown in shallow water. The warm tides had washed over them for days, and the skin had loosened from their limbs. He remembered one soldier in particular from whose hands the skin had peeled like fine transparent glovers; even the fingernails had come away. There were no dog tags, but Horace had been able to obtain excellent fingerprints and make an dientification anyway.