One of the more common myths involves the reason for the notch on the tag issued between 1941 and the early 1970s. Battlefield rumor held that the notched end of the tag was placed between the front teeth of battlefield casualties to hold the jaws in place. No official record of American soldiers being issued these instructions exists; the only purpose of “the notch” was to hold the blank tag in place on the embossing machine. The machine used at this time doesnt require a notch to hold the blank in place, hence, todays tags are smooth on all sides.
[Collected via e-mail, 2003]
I was dating a guy in the military who told me this story about dog tags. He said that if a soldier was killed in the field, his surviving comrade was to take one of the dog tags, break it in half, and close the dead soldiers jaw firmly over one of the halves it to keep it in place for identification purposes in case the body was found. He also said that the ball chain that holds the tags is comprised of 365 beads, and the smaller loop that goes through the tags is comprised of 52 beads. If a soldier is taken prisoner, he can detach the beads as a means of keeping track of how many days have passed.
The chain upon which dog tags are hung wasnt always beaded. At one time olive drab cord or cloth tape was the norm, and woven nylon, wire, and cloth cords still show up as alternatives to the now ubiquitous string of metal beads. Even the original metal chain issued in 1943 had flat links, not the rounded beads of the rosary explanation. The smaller loop of chain was there to keep the tags separated from each other so their clinking didnt alert unfriendlies to the presence of U.S. troops, a function now primarily served by rubber gaskets (known as “silencers”) placed around the edge of each tag.
It is to Mortuary Affairs we therefore turn for the answer to why the older style of dog tags (i.e., tags manufactured between 1941 and the early 1970s) worn by those serving in the U.S. military had notches in them. Dog tags are issued by the military for the purpose of tracking the identities of their wearers, either to identify the remains of those who have died or to put names and medical histories to those who have been grievously injured and rendered unable to provide that information for themselves. The tags (which are now worn in pairs hung on a beaded chain around the neck) bear the following information about the person they were issued to: surname (followed by initials), service number, branch of service, blood type, and religion (if desired by the individual). The tags are issued in pairs because upon death of the wearer one tag needs to be retrieved from the body and sent to Mortuary Affairs along with intelligence about where the body is, and one must be left with the remains for identification purposes.
away to the morgue it is marked for identification with a simple token: a paper tag attached to a toe of the deceased. In the more turbulent world of the military, however, a hardier ID token is necessary. This token needs to be something that is carried on a soldiers person at all times, because the violence of combat can often leave remains difficult to identify, and it needs to be sturdy, because bodies may have to be moved a long ways under rough and adverse conditions before being attended to by mortuary personnel. Under these conditions a paper tag is too fragile — it may too easily be rendered unreadable or separated from the body it identifies, hence the development and use of the oblong-shaped “dog tag” now worn by members of the armed forces.
If you have an original dog tag, you can send it to us and we will figure out the spacing. See options below for uploading a picture. Indent text, because it is stamped downward, has a tendency, over time, to gather dirt within the letters. This makes the letters easier to read. If you would like, we can add black color to the letters for an additional $5.00 USD.
Another popular belief is that the notch was used in the old Graphotype dog tag stamping machines in order to line up a blank dog tag for proper tag alignment during tag stamping. We have used both electric and hand crank machines from the WWII era, and have never figured out how a notch would help in the alignment of the tag.
‘The Model 70 “Addressograph” was a pistol-type imprinting machine used by the Medical Department during WWII. Its function was to transfer the wounded soldier’s identification information directly from his dog tags to his medical records (see above graphic). The notch in the dog tag would align and hold the tag securely in the “Addressograph”. First the dog tag was inserted into the imprinting machine. After the medical document was aligned in the “Addressograph”, the trigger on the imprinting machine was pulled and the information on the dog tag was transferred to the medical document through the ribbon of carbon paper located inside the “Addressograph”‘.
The most popular explanation for the notch is to place the tag securely in the teeth on a fallen soldier’s body. This may have been done but that was not the original purpose of the notch. There’s a great story told about a soldier who was kicking the tag into the teeth of a “dead” soldier and actually “woke” him up!
The Model 70 “Addressograph” was a pistol-type imprinting machine used by the Medical Department during WWII. Its function was to transfer the wounded soldiers identification information directly from his dog tags to his medical records. The notch in the dog tag would align and hold the tag securely in the “Addressograph”. First the dog tag was inserted into the imprinting machine. After the medical document was aligned in the “Addressograph”, the trigger on the imprinting machine was pulled and the information on the dog tag was transferred to the medical document through the ribbon of carbon paper located inside the “Addressograph”.
Nov. 1941-July 1943 Monel Notched Dog Tags M1940 Dog Tag Chain First Name, Middle Initial, Last Name Army Serial Number, Tetanus Immunization, Tetanus Toxoid, Blood Type First Name (Next of Kin), Last Name (Next of Kin) Street Address (Next of Kin) Next of Kin City, State (Next of Kin), Religious preference (Right Justified) July 1943-March 1944 Steel Notched Dog Tags M1940 Dog Tag Chain or Beaded Dog Tag Chain First Name, Middle Initial, Last Name Army Serial Number, Tetanus Immunization, Tetanus Toxoid, Blood Type (Blank) (Blank) Religious Preference (Right Justified)
Standard abbreviations are as follow: State – (Common WW2 Abbreviation) – Modern Abbreviation Alaska – (None) – WV Alabama – (Ala.) – AL Arkansas – (Ark.) – AR Arizona – (Ariz.) – AZ California – (Calif.) – CA Colorado – (Colo.) – CO Connecticut – (Conn.) – CT Washington, D.C – (None) Delaware – (Del.) -DE Florida – (Fla.) – FL Georgia – (Ga.) – GA Hawaii – (None) – HI Iowa – (None) – IA Idaho – (None) – ID Illinois – (Ill.) – IL Indiana – (Ind.) – IN Kansas -(Kan.) – KS Kentucky – (Ky.) – KY Louisiana – (La.) – LA Massachusetts – (Mass.) – MA Maine – (None) – ME Maryland – (Md.) – MD Michigan – (Mich.) – MI Minnesota – (Minn.) – MN Missouri – (Mo.) – MO Mississippi – (Miss.) – MS Montana – (Mont.) – MT North Carolina – (N.C.) – NC North Dakota – (N.D.) – ND Nebraska – (Neb.) – NE New Hampshire – (N.H.) – NH New Jersey – (N.J.) – NJ New Mexico – (N.M.) – NM Nevada – (Nev.) – NV New York – (N.Y.) – NY Ohio – (None) – OH Oklahoma – (Okla.) – OK Oregon – (Ore.) – OR Pennsylvania – (Pa.) – PA Rhode Island – (R.I.) – RI South Carolina – (S.C.) – SC South Dakota – (S.D.) – SD Tennessee – (Tenn.) – TN Texas – (None) – TX Utah – (None) – UT Vermont – (Vt.) – VT Virginia – (Va.) – VA Washington – (Wash.) – WA Wisconsin – (Wis.) – WI West Virginia – (W.Va.) – WV Wyoming – (Wyo.) – WY Religion
DETERMINING AN ARMY SERIAL NUMBER First Fragment or leading digit of the serial number 1: Volunteer, Regular Army (8 numbers) 2: Reservist/National Guard (8 numbers) 3: Draftees (8 numbers) O-:Commissioned Officers (2-7 numbers) N: Nurse Corps (6 numbers) T: Flight Officers (Variable) S: Specialist Corps (Variable) L: WAC Officer (6 digits) A: WAC Soldier (6 digits) V: WAC Warrant Officer (6 digits) –There are more, but these are the majority of the common ones issued. Second Fragment 01: Hawaii Department 02: Panama Canal Department 03: Philippine Department 04: Puerto Rico Department 1: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts 1: Rhode Island, Connecticut 2: New Jersey, Delaware, New York 3: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Washington D.C. 4: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida 4: Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana 5: Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky 6: Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin 7: Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota 7: Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota 8: Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona 9: Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana 9: Nevada, Utah, Alaska (Attached) * Men of the same surname will be assigned consecutive ASN numbers. (Brothers, Sons, Fathers, etc) * The number for Corps (Second Fragment) would be the area of enlistment.
Throughout WW2, the US military utilized the M1940 dog tag. This is the one with a notch on one side. Rumors have always speculated that the notch was used so the tag would remain in the dead soldiers teeth, but that was not the intended purpose, although it was probably used for that.