What is the symbolism of the "hand in the trenches" in the novel, One of Ours?

The hand in the trenches symbolizes the pervading horrors of war. Claude and his company try to bury all of their dead, but the hand of one corpse refuses to be buried and constantly re-emerges from the mud, "like the swollen roots of some noxious weed" (200). This hand symbolizes how the horrors of World War I will never be forgotten: just as the hand will not sink into the mud, so too will the death and destruction resulting from the war never disappear completely.