Laying a Soul to Rest

In Response to: The Things They Carried

What is the symbolism within Tim O'Brien's act of going back to Vietnam and placing Kiowas moccasins at the bottom of the river?

When O'Brien goes back to the field where Kiowa died and he wades into the water, his daughter mentions that he doesn't like being touched by water let alone swim in it so the fact that he waded out into the poop water just to place Kiowas moccasins in the mud where they found his rucksack I believe shows him accepting the fate and forcing himself to face one of his fears to be able to forgive himself. A lot of the people that night blamed themselves for Kiowas death and this was his way of releasing that guilt and symbolically laying Kiowa's soul to rest in a way. And then after doing that, the old farmer raises his shovel above his head while looking at O'Brien and I feel this is the old man and more of like Vietnam and just the whole war forgiving him and also apologizing and putting it in the past. His daughter also says something earlier in the chapter about thinking its weird that he hasn't forgotten the war and still wants to come back which could be O'Brien actually thinking that to himself.