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US ARMY WW2 DOG TAGS (submitted by Alain Batens)Last updated December 7th 2002 In order to help collectors & re-enactors I thought it might come in handy to say a few words about "Dog Tags" worn by Medical Personnel, e.g. Army Nurse Corps - Hospital Dietitian - Physical Therapist - Contract Surgeon, they all had specific prefixes on their Identification Tags, and while dealing with the subject, I think a few more notes on "Dog Tags" in general, would also help ..BRIEF HISTORY 20 DEC 1906 official introduction of ONE Dog Tag 06 JULY 1916 official introduction of SECOND Dog Tag, i.e a full pair is now available 12 FEB 1918 official introduction of ARMY SERIAL NUMBER (too many identical names e.g Brown, Jones, Williams …) OCT 1938 start of tests related to introduction of new Identification Tag TAG, IDENTIFICATION, M-1940 - Stock No. 74-T-60 official stocklist number + nomenclature, adopted 1940 NECKLACE & EXTENSION Stock No. 74-N-300, adopted 1943 Official stocklist number + nomenclature, length 40" (distance between 2 Dog Tags 1 ½"in) – in 1942, the first tag is to be suspended on a necklace 25" in length, while the second tag is to be fixed to a separate necklace extension not further than 2 ½" under the first one - first models were in cotton, plastic, nylon, rayon, the official metal necklace was only introduced in 1943 (with hooks & catches) the bead type (initially sold at PXs) quickly became popular and gradually replaced the 1943 issue, it was made out of 2 lengths of stainless steel, of approximately respectively 28" and 6" in length, easy and practical for general use 2" x 1 1/8". DOG TAG 2' X 1-1/8" official dimensions, with notch at left (to position tag on the embossing machine) small outer rim, and hole (dia 1/8") for necklace EVOLUTION 1st type Dec. 1940 – Nov. 19414th type March 1944-April 1946SERIAL NUMBERS Regular Army (1940) start with digit 1, followed by a second digit (indicating Corps Area/Service Cd) (there were 9 Corps Area for military administrative purposes, and 4 Army Areas for strategical military purposes) 14130598 National Guard (1940) start with digits 20, followed by a third digit (indicating Corps Area/Service Cd) 20417243 Draftees (1940) start with digit 3, followed by a second digit (indicating Corps Area/Service Cd) 31130734 (these were draftees called up by the Selective Training & Service Act)Commissioned Officers (1921) start with prefix O, followed by hyphen + series of 2 > 6, even 7 digits (1940 starts with box of 23,000) O-57 O-3822 O-1170276 Warrant Officers (1942) start with prefix W, followed or not by hyphen + series of 7 digits, starting with 21 W-2118310Flight Officers (1942) start with prefix T, followed by a series of digits T-6367 Army Specialist Corps (1942) start with prefix S, followed by a series of digits S-1038451 Army Nurse Corps (1921) start with prefix N, followed by a series of 6 digits (box of 700,000) N-782136 Hospital Dietitian + Physical Therapist (1942) HD start with prefix R, while PT start with prefix M, followed by a series of digits R..... M........Contract Surgeon (1941) start with prefix CS, followed by a series of digits CS......WAC (1943) start with prefix L (officer), L-918042, A (soldier) A-205333 and V (W.O.) V-704827, followed by a series of 6 digits, of which the first indicated the Service CdSome examples of Army Serial Numbers connected with some ‘famous’ WWII figures ASN O-1 John J. PERSHING (1860-1948) ASN O-57 Douglas A. McARTHUR (1880-1964)ASN O-742 John L.
DE WITT (1880-1962)
ASN O-1616 George C. MARSHALL (1880-1959) ASN O-2605 George
S. PATTON Jr (1885-1945)
ASN
O-2686 Courtney H. HODGES (1887-1966) ASN O-3706 Carl A.
SPAATZ (1891-1974)
ASN O-3807 Omar N. BRADLEY (1893-1981) ASN O-3822 Dwight
D. EISENHOWER (1890-1969)
ASN O-5264 Matthew B. RIDGWAY (1895-1993) ASN O-8431 Maurice ROSE (1899-1945) ASN O-17676 James M. GAVIN (1907-1990) ASN OA-1 Oveta C. HOBBY (1905-1995) USN 81 Alan G. KIRK (1888-1963) All serial numbers start with digit 1, while the second digit indicates Corps Area or Service Command . The War Department allotted a sequence of 100,000 numbers to each "Department", and a series of 1,000,000 numbers to each "Corps" or "Service Command" . Hawaiian Department = range from 10,100,000 > 10,199,999 Panama Canal Department = range from 10,200,000 > 10,299,999 Philippine Department = range from 10,300,000 > 10,399,999 Puerto Rican Department = range from 10,400,000 > 10,499,999 First Corps Area = range from 11,000,000 > 11,999,999 Second Corps Area = range from 12,000,000 > 12,999,999 Third Corps Area = range from 13,000,000 > 13,999,999 Fourth Corps Area = range from 14,000,000 > 14,999,999 Fifth Corps Area = range from 15,000,000 > 15,999,999 Sixth Corps Area = range from 16,000,000 > 16,999,999 Seventh Corps Area = range from 17,000,000 > 17,999,999 Eighth Corps Area = range from 18,000,000 > 18,999,999 Ninth Corps Area = range from 19,000,000 > 19,999,999 National Guard :All serial numbers start with digits 20, while the third digit indicates Corps Area or Service Command . The War Department allotted following ranges . Hawaiian Department = range from 20,010,000 > 20,019,999 Puerto Rican Department = range from 20,020,000 > 20,029,999 First Corps Area = range from 20,100,000 > 20,199,999 Second Corps Area = range from 20,200,000 > 20,299,999 Third Corps Area = range from 20,300,000 > 20,399,999 Fourth Corps Area = range from 20,400,000 > 20,499,999 Fifth Corps Area = range from 20,500,000 > 20,599,999 Sixth Corps Area = range from 20,600,000 > 20,699,999 Seventh Corps Area = range from 20,700,000 > 20,799,999 Eighth Corps Area = range from 20,800,000 > 20,899,999 Ninth Corps Area = range from 20,900,000 > 20,999,999 Draftees :All serial numbers start with digit 3, followed by the second digit indicating Corps Area or Service Command . The War Department allotted following ranges . Hawaiian Department = range from 30,100,000 > 30,199,999 Panama Canal Department = range from 30,200,000 > 30,299,999 Philippine Department = range from 30,300,000 > 33,399,999 Puerto Rican Department = range from 30,400,000 > 30,499,999 First Corps Area = range from 31,000,000 > 31,999,999 Second Corps Area = range from 32,000,000 > 32,999,999 Third Corps Area = range from 33,000,000 > 33,999,999 Fourth Corps Area = range from 34,000,000 > 34,999,999 Fifth Corps Area = range from 35,000,000 > 35,999,999 Sixth Corps Area = range from 36,000,000 > 36,999,999 Seventh Corps Area = range from 37,000,000 > 37,999,999 Eighth Corps Area = range from 38,000,000 > 38,999,999 Ninth Corps Area = range from 39,000,000 > 39,999,999 WACFirst digit of all serial numbers already indicates the specific Service Command . The War Department allotted following ranges . First Service Command = range from 100,000 > 199,999 Second Service Command = range from 200,000 > 299,999 Third Service Command = range from 300,000 > 399,999 Fourth Service Command = range from 400,000 > 499,999 Fifth Service Command = range from 500,000 > 599,999 Sixth Service Command = range from 600,000 > 699,999 Seventh Service Command = range from 700,000 > 799,999 Eighth Service Command = range from 800,000 > 899,999 Ninth Service Command = range from 900,000 > 999,999 Remark 1: religion P (Protestant) C (Catholic) H (Hebrew) in case the soldier had no specific religious preference, NO letter was printed ! Tag silencers were introduced around the end of the war, in order to prevent clanking of the metal elements . There were also special series for the Officer’s Reserve Corps (ORC) O-517501, National Guard O-502824, Officers (directly appointed from civil life) O-184747, Officer Candidate School (OCS) O-1287802, and the US Coast & Geodetic Survey (Army) Department (prefix K) . For Dog Tags, it should be noted that there are many changes related to wartime shortages of strategic materials, involving manufacturing of these items in monel, brass, steel, stainless steel . Remark 2: due to the enormous increase in numbers of service men, the War Department was obliged to introduce additional series of digits – furthermore some Service Commands inducted more than 1,000,000 men ! Consequently, the W.D. launched a new series of digits for DRAFTEES starting with 4 as first digit, immediately followed by the second digit (indicating Corps Area/Service Command); as a result of this, the Second Service Command received a new series starting from 42,000,000 > 42,999,999, also the Third Service Command was allotted a new box i.e. 43,000,000 > 43,999,999, and so was the Fourth Service Command equally provided with another series starting from 44,000,000 > 44,999,999 ! This explains the introduction of series starting with digit 4 . Let’s take a serviceman with ASN 42076794 – the first digit 4 points to a new series introduced for draftees called until January 43, while digit 2 indicates the man originates from the Second Service Command/Corps Area … or such as ASN 43017476 from the Third Service Command … Remark 3: towards the end of 1967, the Army announced its intention to drop the use of Army Serial Numbers ! Between 1967 and 1969, before switching to Social Security Numbers, most Identification Tags had both indications, i.e. ASN + SSAN ! Finally ASNs were dropped June 30, 1969, and as such the new data (on Dog Tags) looked as follows: 1st line = SURNAME, 2nd line = FIRST NAME + INITIAL, 3rd line = SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT NUMBER, 4th line = BLOOD TYPE + RHESUS FACTOR, 5th line = RELIGION . Remark 4: about brass Dog Tags; in December 1940, the Army had to make a choice between brass or monel – they chose the latter (stronger alloy with brass & nickel content) because nickel was on the list of critical items. Brass was used as a substitute standard in mid 1941, but by the end of 1942 due to a large growth of the US Armed Forces, there was a shortage of both brass and monel, and now also brass was on the shortage list of critical items; so the Army had to look again for another solution, by end March of 1942, stainless steel became the substitute material . Although steel was also on the critical list, it was somehow still available in fairly larger numbers (as compared to some other raw materials) for other applications, like Dog Tags ! Because of the continuous evolution in war industry, material shortages of different metals and/or metal alloys appeared on several occasions, whereby the Army still issued smaller lots of steel and monel Identification Tags (quantities still available in some depots), this variety in production only stopped end 1943 – early 1944, when production reverted only to stainless steel ! (let’s not forget that by May 1945, the Army numbered over 8 million men and women) . Remark 5: the A.R.C. (American Red Cross) through its millions of volunteers provided comfort and aid to members of the Armed Forces and their families, they served in ZI hospitals suffering from severe shortages of medical staff, produced emergency supplies for war victims, collected blood, money, scrap, and ran Victory gardens, they further maintained training programs in home nutrition, first aid and water safety . Overseas, American Red Cross workers served as Field Directors providing compassionate and moral support for the troops they accompanied, while women mostly operated Clubs & Canteens and traveling Clubmobiles (‘Donut Girls’), they acted as social workers and arranged for recreational programs . As nurses they were actively attached to Military Hospitals, Hospital Ships, and Hospital Trains ! Although wearing different uniforms and insignia, A.R.C. personnel did however wear regular Army Dog Tags ! I have not been able to find out whether specific numbers (or boxes) were allotted to the A.R.C., but what I do know is that they used for the second line, prefix ARC, such as ARC 28774 (preceded by first name, second initial, surname + tetanus immunization + blood type + religion) . Important: in order to enable collectors to trace the origin of some ASN embossed on dog Tags, or encountered on documents, you’ll find herewith the listing of Army and Corps (later called Service Commands) areas as in use during WWII : First Army Area First Corps Area (Maine-New Hampshire-Vermont-Massachusetts-Rhode Island-Connecticut) HQ=Boston, Mass. Second Corps Area (New Jersey-Delaware-New York) HQ=Governors Island, N.Y. Third Corps Area (Pennsylvania-Maryland-Virginia-District of Columbia) HQ=Baltimore, Md. Second Army Area Fifth Corps Area (Ohio-West Virginia-Indiana-Kentucky) HQ=Ft. Hayes, Ohio Sixth Corps Area (Illinois-Michigan-Wisconsin) HQ=Chicago, Ill. Third Army Area Fourth Corps Area (North Carolina-South Carolina-Georgia-Florida-Alabama-Tennessee-Mississippi-Louisiana) HQ=Atlanta, Ga. Eighth Corps Area (Texas-Oklahoma-Colorado-New Mexico-Arizona (partly) HQ= Ft. Sam Houston, Tex. Fourth Army Area Seventh Corps Area (Missouri-Kansas-Arkansas-Iowa-Nebraska-Minnesota-North Dakota-South Dakota) HQ=Omaha, Nebr. Ninth Corps Area (Washington-Oregon-Idaho-Montana-Wyoming-Utah-Nevada-Arizona (partly)-California-Alaska (attached) HQ=Presidio of San Francisco, Calif. There were also 4 other Departments (US overseas possessions): Hawaii, Panama Canal Zone, Puerto Rico and the Philippines (prior to their seizure by Japan) Example: Clarence R. JONES 37337566 can be identified as being a draftee (digit 3) originating from Seventh Corps Area (digit 7), while his folks lived in Colorado (Eighth Corps Area) NOTES: The Quartermaster Corps is charged with the storage and issue of Identification Tags and embossing machines for use therewith – the Medical Department is charged with the storage and issue of machines for transcribing entries from Identification Tags - machines for transcribing data from Identification Tags, complete with instruction books, will be issued to such personnel of the Medical Department, as may be designated by The Surgeon general (Circular N°151, 3 December 1940) above was necessary, since the Medical Department was responsible for registration of vaccine inoculation and blood type . Embossing Machines: "Graphotype" hand-operated embossing machine, Army Stock N° 54-M-29055, "Graphotype" hand-operated embossing machine, Army Stock N° 54-M-29055-50, "Graphotype" motor-operated embossing machine, Army Stock N° 54-M-29065, and "Adressograph" pistol-type imprinting machine, Model 70, Medical Department Item #99387 Selective Service Act: Act passed by Congress September 14, 1940, authorizing registration for military service in the Armed Forces of the U.S., of all men in the United States between the ages of 21 and 35 inclusive . It was later extended to include men between 20 and 44; and for non-military service, men aged 18 and 19 and men between 45 and 65 inclusive . War Department Pamphlet 21-13, Army Life, 10 August 1944 states … Always wear your Identification Tags . These are considered part of your uniform, and your Officers may ask you to show that you are wearing them at any time on or off the Post … AR 600-40, Section III, 31 March 1944 further indicates … Identification Tags will be worn by each member of the Army at all times and may be removed temporarily ONLY as the necessities of personal hygiene may require; one Tag to be suspended from the neck underneath the clothing by a 25-inch noncorrosive, nontoxic, and heat-resistant material looped to form a necklace, and the second Tag fastened to the necklace below the first Tag by a 2 ½-inch extension of material similar to the necklace . The Tags, embossed as provided in AR 600-35, Section VI, will be issued to each member of the Army as soon as practicable after entry into service … (War Department Circular N° 262, December 19, 1941, stipulated … one Tag to be suspended from the neck underneath the clothing by a cord or tape 40 inches in length passed through the small hole in the Tag, the second Tag to be fastened about 2 ½ inches above the first one on the same cord or tape, both securily held in place by knots), while FM 10-63, Graves Registration, 15 January 1945 also states … one of the two Identification Tags, worn as prescribed in Army Regulations will be attached to the remains when interred . This includes any and all interments in the Theater of Operations – the first battlefield interment, as well as the interment into a temporary cemetery for subsequent, final disposition . The duplicate (i.e. second) Tag will be removed at time of interment and attached securily to the grave marker about 2 inches from the top … it is also interesting to note that … in battlefield burials, when Identification Tags are missing, identification should be made by members of the organization of the deceased . Postive identification obtained should be made of record and a copy of same placed in a canteen, bottle or other container, and buried with the body … if one Tag is missing, the remaining Tag will be buried with the body and the grave marker, marked with the name, grade and Army serial number, until a substitute Tag is made … in case there is no Tag at all (both are missing), all available identifying data should be recorded on two slips of paper, each placed in a separate bottle or in the most practical container available, and buried six inches below the surface of the ground, centered at the head of the grade (this information is later reproduced on a metal label by means of an embossing machine, and attached to the marker by personnel of the Graves Registration Service) … Sources: The Officer’s Guide, 9th Edition, July 1942, Army Regulations AR 600-35, Section VI, 31 March 1944, AR 600-40, Section III, 31 March 1944, FM 10-63 Graves Registration, 15 January 1945, War Department Pamphlet 21-13 Army Life, 10 August 1944, TM 12-250 Administration, February 10, 1942, Army Service Forces Catalog MED 3, 1 March 1944, Quartermaster Supply Catalog QM 3-4, 1945, WW2 period Magazines & Recruiting Posters (all documents are from the author’s collection) |
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Please email me with any comments mailto:steinert@worldnet.att.net David Steinert © Copyright 2000 |