Need Help With This Erkennungsmarke

[Aiur]

So, I received this about a year ago in a package of some WWII stuff. Because the package was a week or two late, the guy threw in this Erkennungsmarke. I just set it aside and haven't looked at it until now. Now that I've seen it, I'm curious about it, because there's some oddities with it (at least, to me).



It's a little to hard to make out, but this is what it says:

Anton Gottschalk
Altenhain O. Taunus
26. 11. 78
ERS. BATL. R.J.R. 87
4. Komp. NR. 784. F.

So, his name was Anton Gottschalk. He was born November 26, 1878 and was living in Altenhain at the time. He was a replacement for the 87th Reserve Infantry Regiment, 4th Company, number 784 (I think, anyway). Don't know what the F means, though. That's what I gathered by looking up a guide, as I don't collect these. Feel free to tell me what I've missed.

Also, from the guide, this is a final pattern disc from WWI. However, there is nothing on the back, and the guide says there should be. Would that place this disc being made somewhere between September 1915 and November 1916?

[BlackCat1982]

Nice original, would not expect to see anything else on the other side necessarily. Anton was wounded twice. Firstly on 25 October 1915, then again on 24 January 1917.





Whilst with Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment 87.

[BlackCat1982]

He got moved about as he was in 11th Kompanie when first wounded in 1915. He doesn't feature on the VDK list so it's a safe bet he made it home in 1918.

[Aiur]

Thanks for the info. How common was it for a guy of his age to be fighting in 1915?

[BlackCat1982]

Thanks for the info. How common was it for a guy of his age to be fighting in 1915?

Quite common, men answered the call to fight on both sides and if passed fit for duty then went.

[Aiur]

Quite common, men answered the call to fight on both sides and if passed fit for duty then went.

I'm not really sure why I'm surprised. I guess part of it is volunteering at his age. Another part is the perception of WWI that only kids who were fresh out of university (or not even that far along) were the ones who fought and died. At least, until there weren't that many left, anyway.

Again, thanks for the info. I need to really brush up on my WWI knowledge, as it's sorely lacking.