The "Dog Tag"
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The "Dog Tag"
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25 Jul 2001
Sandy My dad, Edward R. "Reg" Howard 
 , told me that
when Pearl was attacked,
they didn't have dog tags. I don't know if that was division or ship wide.
Someone on board started making them by hand. I have my dad's. It is quite
crude, metal with the usual stuff stamped on it, but also with 7-12-41
stamped on it. On the other side is his finger print.
Stephen Howard |
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26 Jul 2001
Hi Sandy; The story I was always told was that dog tags came out in WW One. With modern artillery they had many more bodies torn apart and unrecognizeable so they started using dog tags as a way of identifying such bodies. They were supposed to wear one around the neck on a chain and the other tied in one of their shoelaces. I know the Army and Marines did that in WWII. In the navy, especially on smaller ships, we wore both around our neck. On a destroyer, even with 300 men on board, every one could be accounted for much easier than on a battlefield where men could be dispersed or get separated from their units. They could get blown up with no one in their unit witnessing it. Also ground units could move on in a battle situation and their dead would be collected by graves registration teams. Hope this helps. James Marrs |
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27 Jul 2001
Dear Sandy, We did have handmade dogtags and they were the same pattern and size of those issued later. We scratched our names, numbers, Blood type and date of our last tetanus shots on one surface. Also the service USN. I still have one of each. Marvin Metzler
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July 28th, 2001
I have my Dad's, Harold H. Spease
, dog tags.
They don't look anything like the ones they have
now or even 30 years ago. I seem to remember Dad telling me that they were
made on board ship. One of them even has his thumb print on the back of it.
Sandy Ceremelli |
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July 30th, 2001
Sandy In regards to "dog tags". Although I was not aboard the SLC prior to the war, I was in the Navy. I believe that any I.D. we had was of our own doing. The official dog tags came out some time in the middle of "42". The tags were a result of Pearl Harbor. Because the dificulty in indentifying bodies, they were deemed necessary. They are made of a very special, high heat and corrosion resistant metal. I still have mine and it looks like new. Jim O'Hara
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Dog tag of Edward H. Anderson, Ensign
from son, Gary Anderson |
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August 6th, 2001
Sandy My dogtag was made after being assigned to the SLC on Dec 8th from the West Virginia and I still have it encased in plastic with my thumb print on the back Ben Lichtman
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Aug. 23, 2001 Hi Sandy: I saw your information on dog tags. My dad, William M. Patrick
, had a
"homemade'' tag dated 12/41 with a thumb print on the back. He also was
issued a pair of U.S Gov. issue tags with a chain, probably when he was
reasigned to the USS INTREPID in '43.
Hope this is of some help. Thanks Bill Patrick |
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