US dog tags.

[381st digger]

Hi everyone,

I've just been asked when the layout of us dogtags was changed and the address and next of kin was taken off.
Does anybody know if there was an exact date?

Thanks for any help Andy.

[ObKrieger]

July 20th, 1943.

[381st digger]

Your a star, thanks very much.

[cricketchris1944]

But if you had one done before that dates you were not given a new one
Many Gi still had the old ones by the end of the war.
chris

[ruddersrangers44]

But also vice-versa if you had the pre 43 type and lost them you as far as im aware you would have been issued the latter type..............

[ObKrieger]

But if you had one done before that dates you were not given a new one
Many Gi still had the old ones by the end of the war.
chris

Correct!

[kenny177]

Many years ago when i was digging the US camps in Australia i occasionally came across small pockets of dog tags.
From memory all were the type showing the next of kin (see pic).. anything odd i kept.
The top tag is unmarked and made from the same material as the bottom one. the two in the middle are of a different metal and of lighter gauge..thinner !!.. some of these had spelling mistakes/errors.

Only remember finding one matching pair and what was odd is the fact that on one tag he was anglican and on the other he was a catholic.
The "T" i was told, referred to his tetanus injection.. on one tag it was 41 and on the other 42.

A couple of things puzzle me.. Why would soldiers discard their tags ?.. and did each camp have the machine and blank tags to produce them on demand ?

Kenny

[cricketchris1944]

This looks like a grave registration .
This would have been a station where the bodies would have been sorted before being sent to the US or US military cemetery
chris

[cricketchris1944]

[kenny177]

Most were found in the general rubbish dump of the 205th Field Artillery Camp.. contents of the dump were personal items, Japanese items, mess gear, coke bottles, buttons and collar tabs.. etc