Dog Tags

[OLDE CUTLER]

Many of you may have been aware that a year ago my brother in law passed away. He was a collector/hoarder of many things, knives being one of them. I sold some of his knives here on AAPK, but the biggest thing he had the most of was fishing gear, even though he never fished. I helped out my niece and nephews by taking on the duty of selling or donating a lot of things that they were going to throw into the dumpster. In sorting thru the many tackle boxes full of stuff, I found something that really caught my eye. It was a pair of military dog tags with a name on them that was unknown to me. At first I thought not too much of it and set them off to the side to deal with later. I thought they could belong to someone who is already deceased, or someone still living, no way to know. After thinking about it a while, I realized that either way a family may be interested in having them as something of a memento of past military service. My brother in law lived in a small town about 50 miles away, so I first did an internet search by the last name on the tags and town name. I got a hit on a woman who lived there, and found a phone number. When I called her, I was astonished to find that the woman was the mother of the individual named on the dogtags. After explaining to her the situation, she said she was not aware that her son had lost them. I asked if she had any garage sales in recent times, she replied that she had one several years ago and indeed there was a tackle box on the sale which my brother in law must have bought. As it turns out her son had done 2 tours in Afghanistan and lives in Sioux Falls, as does his sister who also is a veteran and is currently working as a councilor of returning military veterans. The mom gave my phone number to the sister and she stopped by my house and picked up the dogtags for her brother. I will always remember the look on her face when I dropped the dogtags on a chain into the palm of her hand. I also happened to think of the dogtags that I have from my great uncle, my grandmothers twin brother from World War I and how much of a family heirloom they are to me. I would like to solicit comments from those of you on AAPK who are veterans about your connection to your dogtags, good or bad.

[FRJ]

I very much regret that I don't have my military dog tags.
You have done a wonderful thing for that family.
Hats off to you!

[Railsplitter]

Great story, OC and a wonderful thing to do. Nicely done.

I also regret that I don’t have my military dog tags. When I served out my enlistment and came back home, I was so happy about it that the only thing I saved was my DD-214 which for those who don’t know, is just a piece of paper.

[dlr110]

Very good story sir and that was an excellent thing you did to find the owner, thank you.
After 53 years I still have my original set of dog tags with my service number before they started using your SSN.
Those small pieces of metal carry a lot of memories and remind me of how important our service and our military strength is in order to continually secure the freedom we enjoy. Shamefully my dog tags are packed away instead of be displayed with my military medals and other uniform items.

[Ridgegrass]

That's a great story, hats off to you. Here's are my dad's WWII dog tag, medals, and ribbons. He was an Infantry 1st Lieutenant, fought in the worst of it in New Guinea and the Philippines in '43-'44, sent home nearly dead of jungle rot, hepatitis, and malaria. Won a Bronze Star. The second pic is a 107 year old "Navy League" poster that hung in my great-grandparents' window while my Uncle Mike Sash served in Le Crossic, France as an airplane mechanic in WW1. The last is a memento my MACV buddies gave me when I rotated home from 'Nam in '68. Just things that deserve keeping. J.O'.

[Quick Steel]

Well done, OC.

Ridgegrass, keeping those momentos is a fine thing.

[Ridgegrass]

QS; J.O'.

[jerryd6818]

I can't find my dog tags. I know they're around here somewhere. Probably in one of these boxes that haven't been opened and probably won't be. Moving sucks.

[Jacknifeben]

I have my dad’s dog tags plus a German lugar that he got from a prisoner. We are talking WW2.

[treefarmer]

I still have my dog tags, hanging by my truck keys.
Had an interesting occurrence at Parris Island back in '64 concerning my dog tags. Don't recall the exact process but at the station where the tags were being made, the Marine that was operating the stamping machine, asked, "Catholic, Protestant or Jew?" I responded, Baptist. He shrugged and said okay. Several comments were made by others asking, "How'd did you do that?"
Treefarmer

[FRJ]

"How'd did you do that?"
Treefarmer

Marines can do anything.

[cudgee]

That's a great story, hats off to you. Here's are my dad's WWII dog tag, medals, and ribbons. He was an Infantry 1st Lieutenant, fought in the worst of it in New Guinea and the Philippines in '43-'44, sent home nearly dead of jungle rot, hepatitis, and malaria. Won a Bronze Star. The second pic is a 107 year old "Navy League" poster that hung in my great-grandparents' window while my Uncle Mike Sash served in Le Crossic, France as an airplane mechanic in WW1. The last is a memento my MACV buddies gave me when I rotated home from 'Nam in '68. Just things that deserve keeping. J.O'.

My Father also served in New Guinea and he said if the Japs didn't get you the country side did. It was brutal and inhospitable.

[cudgee]

Many of you may have been aware that a year ago my brother in law passed away. He was a collector/hoarder of many things, knives being one of them. I sold some of his knives here on AAPK, but the biggest thing he had the most of was fishing gear, even though he never fished. I helped out my niece and nephews by taking on the duty of selling or donating a lot of things that they were going to throw into the dumpster. In sorting thru the many tackle boxes full of stuff, I found something that really caught my eye. It was a pair of military dog tags with a name on them that was unknown to me. At first I thought not too much of it and set them off to the side to deal with later. I thought they could belong to someone who is already deceased, or someone still living, no way to know. After thinking about it a while, I realized that either way a family may be interested in having them as something of a memento of past military service. My brother in law lived in a small town about 50 miles away, so I first did an internet search by the last name on the tags and town name. I got a hit on a woman who lived there, and found a phone number. When I called her, I was astonished to find that the woman was the mother of the individual named on the dogtags. After explaining to her the situation, she said she was not aware that her son had lost them. I asked if she had any garage sales in recent times, she replied that she had one several years ago and indeed there was a tackle box on the sale which my brother in law must have bought. As it turns out her son had done 2 tours in Afghanistan and lives in Sioux Falls, as does his sister who also is a veteran and is currently working as a councilor of returning military veterans. The mom gave my phone number to the sister and she stopped by my house and picked up the dogtags for her brother. I will always remember the look on her face when I dropped the dogtags on a chain into the palm of her hand. I also happened to think of the dogtags that I have from my great uncle, my grandmothers twin brother from World War I and how much of a family heirloom they are to me. I would like to solicit comments from those of you on AAPK who are veterans about your connection to your dogtags, good or bad.

That is a great thing that you have done. Good on you.

[Ridgegrass]

An aside: I just finished reading "GHOST SOLDIERS" about the the Rangers' mission to liberate the Bataan POW's in Cabanatuan prison camp in the Philippines. Unbelievable cruelty and horror. My father wasn't there but nearby and knew the stories firsthand. He never got over his hatred. J.O'.