Dog tags got their name because of the military tradition that started with them.
Dog tags are small disks on a chain that service members wear to identify themselves in combat.How did that tradition start and why are they called dog tags?
Dog tags for a Medal of Honor recipient.Steven L. Bennett is resting at Hurlburt Field.Bennett received the Medal of Honor for his actions in Vietnam.After the original dog tags disappeared, new ones were presented to Bennett's daughter.var addthis_config: false, data_use_cookies: true, ui_508_ compliantThe position is absolute, top, right, and block.If (!g_isDynamic) return, this block is how we execute the special resizing for dgov2's slideshow popup.false; popupResize(pup, giw, Gih, false); var w isMobile is $(window.width): false; if (isMobile) is 100%; const isDgov2Slideshow.
According to the Army Historical Foundation, the term "dog tag" was first used by newspaper magnates.The New Deal was supported by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.The Social Security Administration was considering giving out nameplates for personal identification.The SSA said that they were referred to as "dog tags" similar to those used in the military.
World War II draftees called them dog tags because they claimed they were treated like dogs.There was a rumor that the tags looked similar to the metal tags on the dog's collar.
The concept of an identification tag began long before that.
During the Civil War, identification tags came about because soldiers were afraid no one would be able to identify them if they died.They were terrified of being buried in a grave that wasn't theirs, so they came up with a number of ways to prevent that.Some people marked their clothing with paper tags.Others used old coins.Some men carved their names into wood and strung it around their neck.
The dog tag belonged to a soldier.Company F is part of the 11th New Hampshire Volunteers.Williams enlisted at the age of 18.He died near Spotsylvania Court House in Virginia.var addthis_config is false, data_use_cookies are false and ui_508_compliant is true.
Those who could afford it bought engraved metal tags from nongovernment sellers and sutlers.John Kennedy, a New Yorker, offered to make thousands of engraved disks for soldiers, but the War Department refused.
The Union Army had 40% of their dead unidentified by the end of the war.More than 17,000 troops are buried in Vicksburg National Cemetery, the largest Union cemetery in the U.S., and nearly 13,000 of them are unknown.
The practice of making identification disks caught on was shown to be valid by the outcome of the war.
At the end of the Spanish-American war in 1899, the first official request to outfit service members with ID tags came.The Office of Identification in the Philippines recommended the Army outfit all soldiers with the circular disks to identify those who were severely injured or killed in action.
In December 1906, the Army ordered soldiers to wear aluminum disc-shaped ID tags.The half-dollar size tags were attached to a cord or chain that went around the soldier's neck.The field uniform had tags on it.
The original World War I dog tags were owned by a Navy and Army veteran.The tags are tied with rope or tape.From 1917 through the end of the Great War, Darden was an officer in the Army.The image is from the North Carolina Museum of History.
The order was changed in July 1916 when a second disc was required to be suspended from the first.The first tag was to remain with the body, while the second was for burial service record keeping.The tags were given to enlisted men, but officers had to buy them.
ID tags were not required by the Navy until May 1917.All combat troops were required to wear them.Each man's Army-issued serial number was included in the tags along with the size specifications.At the end of World War I, religious symbols were added to the tags, but they didn't stay after the war.
Navy tags were different from Army tags during World War I.The letters "U.S.N" were made of monel and nickel.They were etched using a process involving printer's ink, heat and nitric acid.The date of birth and enlistment were included in the etching if you were enlisted.The etched print of each sailor's right index finger on the back was meant to safeguard against fraud, an accident or misuse.
Navy identification tags had a fingerprints on them during World War I.var addthis_config is false, data_use_cookies are false and ui_508_compliant is true.
The ID tags weren't used in World War I and II according to the Naval History and Heritage Command.The etching process was replaced with mechanical stamping after they were reinstated in 1941.
The Marines were required to wear ID tags.They had a mix of Army and Navy styles.
By World War II, military ID tags were considered an official part of the uniform and had evolved into the size and shape they are today.
Two dog tags from World War II were found in Germany in July 2020.The man who found the tags did a lot of research.On March 14, 1944, Sammie Lee Williams enlisted.He went to Germany during the war.Williams lived to be 81.var addthis_config is false, data_use_cookies are false and ui_508_ compliant.
Each was stamped with your name, rank, service number, blood type and religion.The emergency notification name and address were removed by the end of the war.The tetanus vaccine that was included was eliminated by the 1950s.
Navy tags did not include the fingerprints during World War II.The second chain that the Army had implemented decades before was included by the war's end.
All military tags had a notch in one end.The notch was caused by the type of machine used to stamp the tags.The tags issued today are smooth on both sides because the machines were replaced in the 1970s.
There are regulations regarding whether the two tags should stay together or be separated.If a service member died, the procedure was changed to keep the dog tags.The regulation of taking one tag and leaving the other was changed by Vietnam.