During the war he assembled aircraft shipped to England.
After the end of the war he was put to work disposing of Chemical Weapons that had been stockpiled for use in the war if needed while he waited to be shipped home.
During that work one of the bombs leaked in to the mud beneath the bomb racks.
He stepped in the mud and it soaked his boots. I believe he told me the bombs held phosgene gas.
His feet began to swell and later the skin came off in strips.
For decades after the perspiration from his feet would quickly rot his leather boots in a matter of months
IIRC phosgene hydrolyzed to hydrochloric acid in the lungs; nasty stuff.