erichjr Posted March 20, 2017 Share #1 Posted March 20, 2017 Just picked up this Purple heart and uniform from the family.Can anyone tell me what the 78 stands for on the dogtag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erichjr Posted March 20, 2017 Author Share #2 Posted March 20, 2017 Cant seem to get pictures on here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarbridge Posted March 20, 2017 Share #3 Posted March 20, 2017 Send the image that has not been sized to [email protected] I will load them if you need help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarbridge Posted March 21, 2017 Share #4 Posted March 21, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
world war I nerd Posted March 21, 2017 Share #5 Posted March 21, 2017 '78' was probably his company roster number. The Army didn't issue serial numbers until around February of 1918. Prior to that each soldier was identified by the number that appeared next to his name on the company roster sheet ... a numeral usually between 01 and approximately 250. The roster numbers were stamped onto their dog tags and also frequently stenciled onto their web gear to make it harder for men to replace lost gear by stealing the article that was misplaced (or stolen from them) from another man in the company. Later, when serial numbers were first issued you would often see both the roster & serial numbers on dog tags. At some point down the road, roster numbers were no longer necessary to make a positive ID and omitted from the dog tags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erichjr Posted March 21, 2017 Author Share #6 Posted March 21, 2017 They do have a serial number on the back of the tags. Erich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KASTAUFFER Posted March 23, 2017 Share #7 Posted March 23, 2017 They do have a serial number on the back of the tags. Erich The tags could have had his ASN added to the back of the tags at a later date. Thats not uncommon for WWI era tags. Kurt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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