Officer WW2 tag, info request

[PinkGoatsArmy]

Hi, 

 

I purchased this officer dog tag in a small military lot for few dollars, i found just few info about this man in service from 1943 to 1947. Can you find further information? Thank for your help

 

[29navy]

From Findagrave and other sources:

 

He was the son of Herman and Freidla (Lewkowitz) Smietana. He served in the US Army from 1943-1947. Dr Smietana opened a medical practice in Montebello after graduating from medical school, specializing in gynecology and obstetrics. He is survived by his wife, Jirina and their son Stefan.

 

Name Joel Smietana

Birth Date 7 Oct 1920

Death Date 11 Dec 1992

 

Enlistment Branch ARMY

Enlistment Date 20 Mar 1943

Discharge Date 9 Jun 1947

 

Looks like he went in as a Private, under the name of Joel Smythe then maybe changed to Officer (?)

 

Name Joel Smythe

Race White

Marital Status Single, without dependents (Single)

Rank Private

Birth Year1920

Nativity State or Country Danzig or Germany

Citizenship Not Yet a Citizen

Residenc eAlameda, California

Education 3 years of college

Civil Occupation Sales clerks

Enlistment Date20 Mar 1943

Enlistment Place San Francisco, California

Service Number 39127940

Branch No branch assignment

Component Selectees (Enlisted Men)

Source Civil Life

Height 46

Weight 119

[PinkGoatsArmy]

Thanks for all this info

[Armygas]

PGA, Sorry to chime in so late, but there is so much to read on this site, I can not keep up.  What I feel is the most important point of this ID tag is the "H" in the lower right.  It stands for Hebrew, previously stated as Jewish, but changed early in the war to help protect the religious identity if captured by German soldiers.  I am not a big collector of tags, however I am working on gathering an example of every religion authorized by the US Military, its quite a long list.  I feel its a nice tag well worth the few shekels.

Cheers, Armygas

[1sg]

More to this story: As I understand it, early in WW2 Jewish soldiers had a J stamped on their dog tags in the

Religion position.  After many complaints i.e. "...the Nazi's are killing all of us and you're telling them who we are..."

So the J was replaced with the H for Hebrew.  True?  I don't know - just more info to ponder.

Airborne!

1SG Wilson