Neat patch Mort. Hope you can nail it down. A Chaplain example would be pretty awesome.

The 4th California Infantry was a volunteer infantry regiment recruited from northern California during the American Civil War. It was organized at Sacramento, Placerville, and Auburn in September and October 1861.pany I - Company K was raised in Nevada City, and was mustered into service at Camp Sigel, on the seventh day of October, 1861. At Camp Sige until January, 1862. Moved to Camp Union, Sacramento, then to San Francisco April 28, and duty at Benicia Barracks until November, 1862. To Fort Umpqua November 12. Duty there and at Benicia Barracks until March, 1863. Moved to Camp Drum under Captain Charles Atchisson[17] March 6 and to Fort Mojave April 29, and duty there until mustered out.

Before the internet, there wasn't much one could do with dog tags as far as researching them.  They were commonly found at garage sales on old key rings, buried in junk boxes, and occasionally in piles at flea markets for often for less than a dollar a set.  They were something like rocks, bottle caps, insulators, and other things that could be found and collected that cost close to nothing.   Also consider how many dog tags there are.  The Army made them official in 1906, but often soldiers had several sets, because the regulations or their information changed.  As an example, my father enlisted in the Navy in WW II, was an enlisted man in the Army in 1950, became an officer in the Army in 1952, and retired in 1969.  I have five or six sets of his dog tags.  So, how many millions of dog tags are we potentially talking about?   As fun example, here is a WW II soldier who had three sets of dog tags for himself, plus two different tags for his dog Penny:   PS: Please note Penny's earlier well worn tag has her "next of kin's" address, but thankfully that was dropped to help her evade capture.  

Also @US82Bravo might you be able to link to those documents you clipped? The ones dated Sept 30th 1944 do not seem to enlarge well enough to be able to read from here, but not sure I had seen that one previously. Like @aznation I had only previously seen or been able to access the July 31st 1944.

@aznation & @US82Bravo thank you both for the information and I really appreciate the responses!   I should have been clearer in what exactly I was missing. I knew Albert was with H/3/11, but what I'm really trying to find out (and forgive my relative ignorance on the subject; I've learned a lot over the past year and a half, though I don't have a military background) is which infantry unit he would have been assigned to or embedded with as a forward observer. That would have been some company within the 1st, 5th, or 7th Marines and based on my research, my best guess is the 7th Marines, since 3/11 was intended to fire in support of the 7th. That appears to be both the 11th's modern mission and, from what I can tell, its role at the time as well (see the clip and link below). I know unit designations change over time, so I could be wrong, but that's my working assumption. So what I'd really love to determine is which specific unit or battalion of the 7th Marines (presumably) Albert may have been attached to... Part of my motivation is that I may have the opportunity to visit Peleliu next year, and my thinking was if I could identify his unit, I might be able to walk find the exact ground he was on. Either way, it would be quite an experience!   Also, I may look into the NARA report if you think this information might be available? Thank you for the tip and contact!   Source: https://www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/Hough_The%20Assault%20on%20Peleliu.pdf   Clip from Page 111

i hear that LINSEED OIL is good for wood stocks-- true or false?? if true boiled or just linseed and how do you apply it?? thank you

This one sort of fell into my lap…came with the trousers, belt and campaign hat (presumably all from the same veteran). Tunic is missing the collar disks, unfortunately. As I already have an infantry patched 81st Division tunic with 321st Infantry disks, I figured this one would make a nice companion to it. I’ll be needing 316, 317 or 318th Artillery disks to make it more correct. 

268TH C.A.,            MAYBE YOU ARE CONFUSED, I DON'T HAVE ANY DOG TAGS TO SELL. SORRY IF I CAUSED CONFUSION.

That one is an xW66, only made in 1941.  The wood is cocobolo, which is the wood used on the W31.   The wood portion of the xW66 would be short for the W31 due to the wide spacers at each end of the wood in the handle.

An interesting one, 60s  we imagine, a Unit type or a Section/Department within a Unit of the type we've seen before on worn on Air Force shirts????   Would anyone know???