Need Help Dog Tag James D Erskine found in West Germany Huertgen Forest

[Forrest2016]

Hello Guys, 

yesterday we found the dog tag from James D Erskine. The place was Huertgen Forest. 

The No is: 0-402180. It may be an Officer?

More Information: Mrs J D Erskine Cold Srpin Harbor Love Island NY.

 

Unfortunately the No ist not find in NARA. 

 

Have you further information for us? Is he coming back to US after World War II? When he was born? etc.

Thanks for your help.

Best Regards

Forrestwalker

[love4history]

That would be Cold Spring Harbor Long Island

[love4history]

Quite likely this would be the man: https://nl.findagrave.com/memorial/230185596/james_drummond-erskine

 

(notice the info that he was pre-deceased by a sister who was (still) living in Cold Spring Harbor..... )

[kfields]

WOW! What a great writeup in 'findagrave'! 

Excellent find!

[Forrest2016]

Thanks a lot for the informaton. But how it is possible to identify him secure? It will be great to know. No offense. Excuse my english. Why is his serial not to be find? As an officer, your sre right cold spring harbour of course

[love4history]

Pretty sure this is the right man but I'm afraid my knowledge of dog tags and the information on it is rather limited. I was hoping someone more knowledgeable in that field would be willing to give an analysis and connect the dots between the tag and the info from Findagrave.

[Simon Lerenfort]

To add to his story and possibly the reason his tag was found in the Hürtgenwald.

Having suffered a severely broken hip on a maneuvers jump in Tennessee, Lt. Erskine was told he would never jump again. After his recovery, he was determined to rejoin the 506th and managed to persuade the Army doctors into giving him an OK for overseas duty. He convoyed to Liverpool and was given a special Military Police attachment to the 18th Corps Airborne Division under General Matthew Ridgeway. Lt. Erskine followed General Ridgeway Headquarters Company through the rest of the war. He made a glider landing in Holland and eventually participated in Operation Market Garden, the Ardennes, and the Battle of the Bulge. His battalion did mopping up operations through Germany, crossing the Elbe, finally connecting with the Russian forces on the Baltic. He was discharged as a Lieutenant Colonel.

[Forrest2016]

Thanks a lot for this informations👍

[aznation]

On 10/11/2025 at 3:04 PM, Forrest2016 said:

Thanks a lot for this informations👍

 

You can click on this link and it'll take you to all the NARA Morning Reports where James D Erskine's service number is located in. 

https://catalog.archives.gov/search?page=1&q="Erskine%2C James D"&recordGroupNumber=64

 

If you need further instruction on what to do once you get there, click on this link and look at the instructions.

https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/413493-how-to-find-wwii-morning-reports-on-naras-website-using-service-number-or-name/