Dog Tags?

[Wolfie303]

OK, so I went to a show today and spent too much money. I bought another group of "firsts" as well, and could use some help. Bought some dog tags.

 

I'd like to figure out how to read dog tags better so I can figure out about what time frame they are from and... well, yeah, I'd like to maybe figure out who the people are/were who wore them.

 

I got three sets today that I wanted to show and maybe get some information on them. Only one set was labeled and it says "Korean War," so I want to make sure that was accurate. Here they are.

 

 

 

 

That last set, for some reason, is the set that caught my eye, and I ended up buying the other two as well. When I got them all home, I also noticed something else about that last set:

 

 

What is with the little key? I didn't notice it at the show, I only saw it when I got home.

 

Thanks for any help!

[Third Herd]

The second set down the "Guy D Ward" has a larger letters than issue ones I've seen. A surplus store that used to be in town used an addressograph stamping machine for the old metal credit cards and their tags had the larger lettering. I'm not old enough to have had one but I remember my parents metal credit cards.

[Steve B.]

The first set shown has a tetanus vaccination date of 1950 (T50) and the use of ER in front of the serial number further dates it as post-WWII. ER stands for Enlisted Reserve. They also used NG for National Guard and RA for Regular Army.

 

The second set is indeed curious with the larger type that I would consider to be non-standard. They also seem to be stamped on what I would call the back side of the tags - look at the other two sets and you'll see what I mean.

 

The third set I can't really comment on since they seem to be navy tags. At the bottom, one tag says USN and the other says USN-A. I do not know the significance of those markings other than to guess that they stand for US Navy, but why does one have the -A and the other doesn't? Probably a mistake.

 

The small key is for as Master brand padlock. The owner kept it on his dogtag chain so he wouldn't lose it. That key probably opens several thousand other locks out there somewhere!

[ffuries]

The first set shown has a tetanus vaccination date of 1950 (T50) and the use of ER in front of the serial number further dates it as post-WWII. ER stands for Enlisted Reserve. They also used NG for National Guard and RA for Regular Army.

 

The second set is indeed curious with the larger type that I would consider to be non-standard. They also seem to be stamped on what I would call the back side of the tags - look at the other two sets and you'll see what I mean.

 

The third set I can't really comment on since they seem to be navy tags. At the bottom, one tag says USN and the other says USN-A. I do not know the significance of those markings other than to guess that they stand for US Navy, but why does one have the -A and the other doesn't? Probably a mistake.

 

The small key is for as Master brand padlock. The owner kept it on his dogtag chain so he wouldn't lose it. That key probably opens several thousand other locks out there somewhere!

 

Funny you should mention the wrong sided printed dog tags. My first dog tags done at basic training were printed on the wrong side, years later during a mobility folder inspection it was pointed out that they were wrong. I never knew there was a right side and wrong side until then.