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Dog Tags Styles and examples Part 1


Ricardo
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My Grandfather's WWI dog tags. He was AEF 7th Division, 55 Headquarters Co. 2nd Battalion, Pvt. and gunner on a One pound gun (37mm).

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  • 4 weeks later...

Here is a dog tag I picked up at the flea market a while back. I believe it is WW1.

 

I checked the WW1 draft registration cards and there are only 8 men listed as Wm. J Brown (obviously there are hundreds listed as William). One of them was a black man born in 1876 so I do not believe it belonged to him (he would have been 41 years old when the US entered the war), so it probably belonged to one of the other 7 men.

 

Is there any way to tell from the number what state he was from? I know you can do that for later dog tags, but do not know if it was done in WW1.

 

Paul

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Here is a dog tag I picked up at the flea market a while back. I believe it is WW1.

 

I checked the WW1 draft registration cards and there are only 8 men listed as Wm. J Brown (obviously there are hundreds listed as William). One of them was a black man born in 1876 so I do not believe it belonged to him (he would have been 41 years old when the US entered the war), so it probably belonged to one of the other 7 men.

 

Is there any way to tell from the number what state he was from? I know you can do that for later dog tags, but do not know if it was done in WW1.

 

Paul

 

 

Hi Paul,

You can not tell the state, but IIRC the number can give you an idea of the unit to which he was assigned. Each unit was issued a range of numbers. That being said, I have never seen a master list. Maybe one of the other members may be able to help further.

 

By the way, I would be interested in helping develop a list of tag numbers with the corresponding units if any one else is interested.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Squad leader

Steven,

Great items. I assume Roland E. Lambert was a French-Canadian. His lastname sounds French, he was a catholic, and Woonsocket, R.I., had many French-Canadian residents in the 1940's. I bidded on these tags but you won the auction. Congratulations !!! twothumbup.gif

 

Dan.

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Hi Paul,

You can not tell the state, but IIRC the number can give you an idea of the unit to which he was assigned. Each unit was issued a range of numbers. That being said, I have never seen a master list. Maybe one of the other members may be able to help further.

 

By the way, I would be interested in helping develop a list of tag numbers with the corresponding units if any one else is interested.

 

Here is a good start but the ending date is Feb 8 , 1918

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Teufelhund

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Steven,

Great items. I assume Roland E. Lambert was a French-Canadian. His lastname sounds French, he was a catholic, and Woonsocket, R.I., had many French-Canadian residents in the 1940's. I bidded on these tags but you won the auction. Congratulations !!! twothumbup.gif

 

Dan.

Thank you! Sorry I ended up snatching them from you though. :lol: There was another set of tags from a Woonsocket native who was killed in action on eBay at the same time as the ones I got. Those sold for a good deal more, though. I'm actually going to Rhode Island this weekend to visit family and I plan to hit some local antique shops. With any luck I'll come home with some more RI tags. thumbsup.gif
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Here are a couple more sets I picked up recently.

Webster is just a stone throw from where I live right now, and I hardly had to do more than step out my door to go pick them up from the lady selling them. First in person pick up I've done with eBay. :lol: They are still attached to the original sterling chain, but one of the J hook clasps was missing and both tags were on the same hook... and some knucklehead had soldered the clasp closed at the hinge. It was a real slop job and looked like it was done yesterday. I was able to squeeze one of the tags out from the hooks and used an extra clasp that I had from another broken chain to repair this one and make a complete set.


A set of tags from a California man. I like how on the bottom tag they spelled his last name wrong by starting it with an F, then went back and stamped an R over it.

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Stinger Gunner USMC

Some nice tags! evertime I look at this thread I get depressed, my entire dog tag collection (about 40 pairs plus contless singles) was stollen from my moms house a few years back while I was overseas. I was downsizing my collection and had about a third of my collection ready to go to auction and a "collector" contacted my mom asking if he could come look at what was going to sell. well all the things to be sold were still in my collection room and apparently when my moms attention was taken away from the "collector" he managed to empty my riker display. My mom said she didn't see the guy at the auction and never even noticed they were gone until I came home 4 months later and found the empty case.

Lesson learned, make sure you and your family only show your collection to trusted friends. You never know who is going to have sticky fingers.

I never had the heart to start my collection over. Just moved on to different focuses.

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Some nice tags! evertime I look at this thread I get depressed, my entire dog tag collection (about 40 pairs plus contless singles) was stollen from my moms house a few years back while I was overseas.

That is just SICK! To me it's like someone just stole the identity of all those men. Despicable. thumbdown.gif

 

Here are a few more single tags that I picked up recently. The West Virginia tag has certainly seen better days. Can anyone tell me anything about the early Mass. tag? The ASN of the man was only 7 digits and it started with a 6. I seem to remember numbers like this denoting something, I just can't find it in any of my references!

 

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Here are my Family dog tags

 

Charles S. Pritchard Sr. WWI France 7th Division 55th Headquarters Co. 2nd Battalion. Private Gunner 1 pound gun.

Frank A. Pritchard, WWII 1st Calvary Japanese Occupation. Sergeant Artillery

Charles S. Pritchard III, Vietnam, USS Bainbridge DLGN-25 Sonar Tech 1st Class

(My serial # was only good for 11 days prior to January 1ST, 1970 when US military switched to Social security #s. (Yes I have my other dog tags, no you can not see them.)

I don't have my dad's (Charles S. Pritchard Jr.) dog tags. He served in Army Air Force,

stateside WWII Corporal

I don't have my Great Uncle's (Frank A. Pritchard) dog tags. Served in France WWI Officer, Captain

 

My Grandfather and Great Uncle were both wounded in France. Great Uncle lost his leg, Grandfather "lightly gassed and injured while moving 1lb gun across trenches.

If you can't see photos clear enough, click on links below pictures to see my Flickr photos. Big .jpgs.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/chukpike/2332...in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chukpike/2331...in/photostream/

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"GREETINGS & SALUTATIONS!" Stephen Decatur Rohde ([email protected]) of Sunnyvale, California 94087 said he is the "DOG TAG KING!" He has over 12,000, maybe 15,000 dog tags at this time. His collection is really amazing to behold too! thumbsup.gif Sarge Booker of Tujunga, California ([email protected])

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Steven,

 

The 7 digit # beginning with a 6 indicates a per WWII Regular Army enlistee from the mid to late 1930's.

 

Interesting that it's from Edgartown which is and was a very small town on Martha's Vinyard island.

 

Bill

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is just SICK! To me it's like someone just stole the identity of all those men. Despicable. thumbdown.gif

 

Here are a few more single tags that I picked up recently. The West Virginia tag has certainly seen better days. Can anyone tell me anything about the early Mass. tag? The ASN of the man was only 7 digits and it started with a 6. I seem to remember numbers like this denoting something, I just can't find it in any of my references!

 

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Steven,

The 7 digit # beginning with a 6 indicates a per WWII Regular Army enlistee from the mid to late 1930's.

Interesting that it's from Edgartown which is and was a very small town on Martha's Vinyard island.

Bill
Ahh, yes, I was looking through the wrong section of my reference book. No wonder I couldn't find that info. Thanks. Part of the fun in NOK tags is looking into the towns where the men came from. It always fascinates me when they came from tiny town. The one from Greenleaf, Kansas is a town with a population under 400 today. I can only imagine how small it was back in 1942.

And to add to the thread, here a four tags all from the same family. Nope, not brothers, but a Major and his two sons! His 7 year old had two tags but the 5 year old only had one. Probably lost it playing around the base, I would guess. think.gif

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Brian Keith

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Here is an interesting tag. The owner was an officer in WW II, and an attorney in civilian life. Could this tag mean,

23rd Provost?

 

StevenL, I like those Ft. Ben Harrison tags! Cool! Of course it is closed down now.

BKW

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Not realy a dog tag, but this item has recently been unhearted in France

 

John D Llove is DOW on 10-6-1918 Blanc Mont Battle

He enlisted on December 13rd 1917

Joined the 137th Replacement Co and was later assigned to te 79th Co

He is buried in the Meuse Argonne Cemetery

 

Plot H

Row 22

Grave 11

 

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Teufelhund

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Here's my latest, a pair from a small town Iowa man. I can't find much about him, though he was a police officer in civilian life.

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Hopefully I wont get chewed out for this, but I decided to clean one of the tags I posted earlier. Normally I wouldn't clean WWII stuff up like this, but the condition of this tag was beyond simple aging, it was physically damaged from poor storage. You can at least see the brass coloring coming through now, and it time it will regain a nice patina. The previous owner would be pleased, I think, and that's what matters to me.

Here's the before and after shots.


And after a good cleaning...

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  • 2 weeks later...

I caught this thread and pulled out a pair of tags my brother gave me while stationed in England. He was stationed at Ramstein at the time and found these tags metal detecting back around 1997. I couldn't find anything until another search tonight positively verified that he was indeed killed in action 19 April, 1945. We always wondered... I wish I could find out which unit he was with.

 

This took me back a bit. I have medal groups belonging to casualties, but to actually hold something that was there with him threw me for a loop. Very throught provoking. If anybody could help me out with a unit, I would be very, very greatful. Thanks!

 

-Ski

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...If anybody could help me out with a unit....Thanks!

Call the cemetery; they may be able to tell you his unit:

 

PERRY, RICHARD C. Section J Site 16310

LONG ISLAND NATIONAL CEMETERY (631)454-4949

2040 WELLWOOD AVENUE FARMINGDALE, NY 11735-1211

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This is one of mine, USMC Cpl. Mark E. Peterik wounded three times during the Battle for Saipan and received the Silver Star for rescuing a wounded fellow Marine while under heavy enemy fire after being wounded himself.

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Call the cemetery; they may be able to tell you his unit:

 

PERRY, RICHARD C. Section J Site 16310

LONG ISLAND NATIONAL CEMETERY (631)454-4949

2040 WELLWOOD AVENUE FARMINGDALE, NY 11735-1211

 

I tried with no luck. The lady looked up his information, but it didn't have unit info. I might have to file a form 180.... ermm.gif Thanks for the help.

 

-Ski

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I tried with no luck. The lady looked up his information, but it didn't have unit info. I might have to file a form 180.... ermm.gif Thanks for the help.

 

-Ski

 

After a bit of research, I found that the 80th Inf Div rolled through the area where the dog tags were found ( in the woods outside Kaiserslautern, Germany). I have a strong feeling that Richard Perry was a member of the division. I am checking with the association to see if they have any record of him in their files.

He died of wounds on 11 April, 1945, so he wasn't lost on that day. It would make sense that he was wounded some days prior to his passing, which would line up where the dog tags were found.

 

-Ski

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