Genealogy Chat

Would explain OH in RAF, was in Germany most of time. Brother in Cyprus during Eoka and Borneo 64-65.

Thank you.

My OH was in the Royal Navy and he thinks that the sailors wore them but the officers didn't. This was peacetime and during the war everybody wore them in all the Armed Forces. According to Google they were made of aluminium (which doesn't corrode) and were first used during the Boer War.

I have my fathers army dog tags c.1944-1948

There are 3 of them, 2 are metal and one is the red pressed board.

So I would say from this that both styles were issued and used for different purposes.

Oh and all they had on there was his suname and initials and his army number.

I'm fairly sure that they were used in the Air Force also. My daughter in the Canadian Air Force has one.

If no one knows for certain here, you could try posting in here:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/board,300.0.html

I may not have expressed myself clearly. I can recall brother's it was made of metal, had name, number, religion, blood group that I can recall, now he was in the Army. On the other hand OH served in RAF and says he never wore one.

Seems strange if only Army wore them as they were for identification purposes. What did the Royal Navy do?

Have googled and cannot get satisfactory answers.

Margee - I think you're right for the Brits.

In the American Civil War, 40% of battlefield casualties were unidentified.
Soldiers took to writing their names on bits of cloth and stitching them to their uniform. Before long, enterprising sutlers started supplying brass discs that could be embossed. They became official issue after the Spanish-American War, so mid 1900s, say. They were issued in pairs - one worn on a supplementary chain could be detached, and taken back to HQ for paper work to be started - the other on the main chain stayed with the body.
(Just realized sutler might not be an English word - he was a civilian provision merchant who sold stuff to the army.)

I believe they were used as early as WW1. Think they were made of a type of pressed cardboard at the time.

Which branch wore them? Interesting conversation came up today - OH served RAF 1956-1960 never wore one. Sibling in Infantry from 1958-1967 did.

I was surprised by this info and OH admitted he had never thought about it before. Any answers please?