GI Dog Tags

General Discussion FSM Ready Room
1

I found a pair of what look like my father in laws WWII dogtags,they have on them besides his name and number,his address and his mothers name,is that correct,seems like too much info.Couldnt that be used by the enemy for propaganda purposes,sending demoralizing letters to next of kin.

Forgive my lack of knowledge on such matters.

2

Back in WW2, all letters would go through the Swiss and would be censored. Germans wouldn’t just chuck it in the Bundespost and mail it to the USPS. Mainly for Red Cross POW or KIA notification.

3

Thanks Rob

4

Does seem bit to much info. Our modern ID disks just have intials and surname, number, rank, religion and blood group.

5

You might show them to someone who’s an expert on authenticating. I know that like Zippos, so-called real ones get sold all over the place. Air shows, for example.

My F-I-L wrote his number inside everything he had.

Sould have his blood type too.

6

Just a thought, could these have been left on personal items not taken into theater and to be sent home should the worse happen.

7

My [2cnts]. I would find a VFW post and check with them. Has to be someone there who had them. Hope that this helps. Good luck.

Jim [cptn]

8

Do they look like these?

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=BlrwHzqg&id=64D812F9D4071E70147621402694EE33BB8F2435&thid=OIP.BlrwHzqguGMrl3G8jjjL-gHaFj&mediaurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.warrelics.eu%2Fforum%2Fattachments%2Fequipment-field-gear%2F143653d1285286531-wwii-us-dog-tags-resize-romeo-chagnon-3.jpg&exph=1040&expw=1386&q=WWII+dog+tags&simid=608045170741871911&selectedIndex=10&ajaxhist=0

9

Exactly [:D]

10

Good! This may answer a few questions about them.

http://www.hardscrabblefarm.com/ww2/dogtags_serial.htm

11

Looking at that link, it appears that the information format on the tags was revamped a few times during the war. Very interesting…

12

Good info GAF, its interesting that they carried so much information.

13

A different time and era. Most likely that was the standard procedure for dog tags back then.

14

I belong to a metal detecting club, and subscribe to a couple of magazines on the hobby. Every once in awhile people will dig up a tag when detecting. Most will take the time to dig and research, and try to get it back to a family member as a remberance of the individual.

15

I have my Father’s tags and it has much the same info on them. I checked with someone and they said this type of tag didn’t last too long.

Why would you want to give the enemy that much information?

16

One thing I do want to know is if the services replaced these tags with the newer ones as the war went on. This might be why families have these older tags, as servicemen might have just left them at home once they received new ones. OR did these tags remain in service all through the war? Another mystery to clear up.

Gary