WWII USN Dog Tags

[MasonK]

These dog tags are being listed on Craigslist. I have no interest in purchasing them (asking price is $1200!) however was curious how accurate their description was with respect to religion and the name change:

 

These are Original World War II Dog Tags belonging to a Jewish United States Navy Sailor, Ernest Schwartz. The difference is that on the Dog Tags he would wear, his name and religion were purposely spelled differently and changed. Swartz not Schwartz, and "P" for Protestant, instead of "H" for Hebrew. There is also his Original unchanged Dog Tag, in Mint Condition. His Dog Tags were changed to trick the Nazi's into thinking he was Christian, in case he was ever caught and became a Prisoner of War.

 

I was offered to put these in 3 Ivy League Colleges (among other colleges), numerous military auctions and countless museums, but I would rather sell them to a Private Collector.

 

Pictures are just to give an idea, you must see them in person. To any serious collector who is interested, I will consider all reasonable offers. Thanks.

 

Some info on Ernest Schwartz can be found here http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online...blosses_r12.htm

 

He was one of the Survivors.

 

Now, it makes sense as I have heard of servicemen who were Jewish omitting their religion (not sure how often this was practiced in the Navy) and it's surely plausible that they would enter a different religion, however did they also modify the person’s name? I would think this would be against military policy, even at that time. My assumption is this was just an error, hence the 2nd set of tags. This could explain why the error tags look to have never been worn (that, or they're fake?). By the way, there are over 2400 muster rolls (obviously multiples for the same individual) with the surname Schwartz, so it clearly wasn't widely practiced.

 

I looked through Navy Muster rolls for all variations in the spelling of the sailor's name (even using just E as the first name or just S for the last name and combinations in between) and couldn't find one whose serial # matched. I was able to locate the Ernest Schwartz on USS R-12, however this is definitely not the same guy as the serial #'s aren't even close.

 

Seems like quite the anomally.

 

 

[MasonK]

By the way, there are over 2400 muster rolls (obviously multiples for the same individual) with the surname Schwartz, so it clearly wasn't widely practiced.

 

Thought more about this and I guess on the Muster Rolls they would have the correct spelling and not his alias. Still, seems kind of odd to me.