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 Author  Topic: Dog Tags
MN Gal

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of MN Gal   Send Email To MN Gal Posted on: Jun 15, 2012 - 5:40am
Happy Fathers Day weekend to all you fathers.

I was doing a little investigating on dog tags. It started with wanting to have the first page of my scrap book with some kind of clip art with dog tags hanging from the beaded chain with my father in laws name and personal information.
But, as I investigate, the dog tags didnt look like what I had in my head.
I was going through pictures trying to see a man actually wearing them. There are very few of those.
Wondering if anyone could educate me on dog tags during 1943 to 1946?

Julie


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Frank J Andruss Sr

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Frank J Andruss Sr   Send Email To Frank J Andruss Sr Posted on: Jun 15, 2012 - 11:39pm
Julie

Not sure what you are looking for. The standard Dog tag consisted of Name, Serial Number, Blood Type, and Religion. The dog tags were made of stainless steel, but some were made from monel, brass, and even steel. You were issued 2 Dog tags which was suspended by a chain. I have several in the exhibit which have beaded chain, but some that have like a nylon chain. Most Dog Tags had a notch to the left cut into them, but I think this was due to the way they machined them. They have a hole punched into them for the necklace. The Dog Tags were considered part of your uniform, so you had to wear them, although you see many of the guys wearing no shirts with no dog tags, so I would suggest they might have had them in their pockets,. It's a good question to ask some of the veterans on the message board.


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Drew Cook

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Drew Cook  Posted on: Jun 16, 2012 - 7:14am
Julie,

Navy and Marine Corps dogtags during World War II were round, not the oblong, rounded-end Army dogtags with the stamping-machine alignment "notch" in it Frank mentioned. In my experience, most everyone thinks of the Army type when talking about military "dog tag" IDs.

Just do a Google image search for "World War II Navy dogtags, "JFK Navy dogtags," or something similar, and you'll quickly be able to see what they looked like.


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MN Gal

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of MN Gal   Send Email To MN Gal Posted on: Jun 16, 2012 - 7:30am
Frank,
What you discribed is what I thought the dog tags would be like.
Before I put them on the first page with my father in laws name,
kind of like art for the first page.
I thought I should make sure thats how they looked.

What I was reading, was in 1943 they had two holes, they were more round than oblong and that they were not issued a beaded chain. They wove there own or a ribbon type material.
There were two, one with two holes and one with one hole,
the one with two holes was first, the second one had one hole because it was last on the ribbon. As I understand what I read, one to stay with the body in case of death, one to be taken for documenting purposes.
I would love for a veteran to jump in on this, I wondered if because they were not issued chains and they had to pay for them if they wanted one. Being the depression, maybe they didnt wear them around their neck with a chain as much as we think.?

If they were on a ribbon,or hand woven material by the owner, with the heat and bugs, who would want that around their neck? I read they could or would wear them on their wrist.
Same thing, doesnt sound practical.

I went to ebay, dog tag's for sale for that time period, look like I discribed I read about.
Come on Veterans, how was it?
Julie


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MN Gal

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of MN Gal   Send Email To MN Gal Posted on: Jun 16, 2012 - 7:39am
Drew,
I was writing my post while your post was posted, so I didnt see it before writing mine.
thanks,
Julie


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Frank J Andruss Sr

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Frank J Andruss Sr   Send Email To Frank J Andruss Sr Posted on: Jun 16, 2012 - 8:19am
Drew is correct in that the Navy ones were different. I just dug out the ones I have and they do not have that notch in them. They both have chains as mentioned, one beaded, and one with a light cloth type material, which I bet was much easier on the skin. I could see dog tags in the hot Pacific Sun as being a real pain in the fanny, which could cause rashes around the neck. This might be one of the reasons why you don't see the guys wearing them in photos. Plus they have a tendency to make noises because of them clanking around you neck. This is why I believe they tucked them into their pants pockets.


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Jeff D

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Jeff D   Send Email To Jeff D Posted on: Jun 16, 2012 - 11:18am
This site, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_tag, mentions a bit about the notch:

World War II

There is a recurring myth about the notch situated in one end of the dog tags issued to United States Army personnel during World War II. It was rumored that the notch's purpose was that, if a soldier found one of his comrades on the battlefield, he could take one tag to the commanding officer and stick the other between the teeth of the soldier to ensure that the tag would remain with the body and be identified. In reality, the notch was designed to hold the tag in place when being imprinted on the carbon-paper medical form by the Model 70 Addressograph (a pistol-type imprinting machine used by the Medical Department during World War II).[4] The purpose and use of the notch was verified by a Snopes article, in which Snopes consulted with US Army Mortuary Affairs.[5]

As a side note, it appears instructions that would confirm the notch's mythical use were issued at least unofficially by the Graves Registration Service during the Vietnam War to Army troops headed overseas.[6]

Following World War II, the US Navy Department adopted the dog tags used by the US Army and Air Force, so a single shape and size became the American standard.


As Drew mentioned, one of JFK's tags:



I think the USNR-O means he had type O blood.



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29navy

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of 29navy  Posted on: Jun 16, 2012 - 5:52pm
Julie,

If you want to get a set made go here:

http://usmcwwiidogtags.com/products



Charlie

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