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Latest dog tags! WIA Vietnam and 817th Tank Destroyer Battalion WWII

bellasilva

By bellasilva,
in IDENTITY ITEMS (DOG TAGS, BRACELETS, ETC)

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bellasilva

bellasilva

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I got these in a trade from a forum member (thanks Connor) a few days ago and I'm ecstatic to own them. First up is a well documented dog tag to a rifleman/squad leader, Mark D. Callahan, who was wounded by enemy grenade shrapnel while on a 6 man recon patrol in Vietnam on Feb 28th, 1969. He served with 3rd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 11th Infantry Brigade and earned the Purple Heart and Bronze Star medal. Attached is an email sent by him to another person regarding his tag which was recovered in Vietnam, where he served from May 1968-May 1969

 

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bellasilva

bellasilva

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And here's the other tag, love this one. Harvey Bensink served with the 817th Tank Destroyer Battalion in WWII. There are a good number of pictures of him available online. The 817th landed on Utah Beach in Normandy in August 1944 and entered into combat in the Hurtgen forest in December 1944. They then went to the Ardennes in January 1945 and crossed the bridge at Remagen in March 1945. In April 1945 they saw combat in the Harz Mountains. They then helped capture Halle and advanced to the Mulde river. Quite a storied history with this one. Attached are pictured of Harvey Bensink while serving in the ETO.

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post-104906-0-09867400-1428713672.jpg

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bellasilva

bellasilva

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Nice write ups Phil! Again, glad you like them. I see you remembered to blur the SSN ;)

Thanks man! Did you get your tags yet? I had a huge brain fart with the Callahan tag and forgot to blur anything, but Bob Hudson was kind enough to edit it for me! :lol:
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bellasilva

bellasilva

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Really like the 817th one! The 817th was attached to the 104th ID, so I'm definitely diggin that one!

Thanks for the comments gents!

 

Timberwolf, it definitely is a neat one! I see you have a special interest in 104th items

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USdog

USdog

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Thanks man! Did you get your tags yet? I had a huge brain fart with the Callahan tag and forgot to blur anything, but Bob Hudson was kind enough to edit it for me! :lol:

Ha, I didn't see that. I probably would have forgot too.

 

I can't see if I got the tags yet as I am driving back from vacation at the moment. I'll let you know if it's there when I get back on Saturday.

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Jeeper704

Jeeper704

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817TD dogtags, really nice and even better with photos and story. :love:

I have a grouping with lots of photos from another 817er.

 

Erwin

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bellasilva

bellasilva

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Erwin- Thanks! I'd love to see yours. There are some great 817th resources online with individual members being well documented

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Jeeper704

Jeeper704

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I hope I'm not hijacking your topic, but here is a photo of part of that grouping (there are many more photos which are in a binder, and some documents).

As a promise to his relative, I blocked out the name of the soldier.

 

post-157-0-15412800-1429164272.jpg

 

Erwin

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bellasilva

bellasilva

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I thought I'd add a couple more photos of Bensink I found. Here he is standing next to a Jeep somewhere in France, and in the 2nd picture he is standing to the left.

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bellasilva

bellasilva

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And here is a shot, presumably taken by Bensink as the photo was provided by his daughter, of the famous Siegfried Line.

post-104906-0-98196400-1429561643.jpg

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bellasilva

bellasilva

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Was he in HQ Company?

Because that's the yardlong I have.

 

Erwin

He sure was. I've been trying to post a nice studio type portrait of him towards the end of the war but the image is way too small and enlarging it would only distorte his face. He does have an easily recognizable fave though based on all of his pictures
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  • 2 weeks later...
bellasilva

bellasilva

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I really love that photo too, there are some great shots of him available online

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  • 3 weeks later...
bellasilva

bellasilva

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I'm pretty excited! After viewing another forum member's 817th yard long, and then referencing the 817th TD website, I found a list of everyone's name in the yard long. I was able to pinpoint Bensink in the photo!

post-104906-0-66480500-1432687949.jpg

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