The History of the Dog Tag
"Dog tag" is a nickname for a military identification tag. Dog tags provide identification for fallen troops and include information such as name, serial number, military branch, blood type and religious preference. Does this Spark an idea?
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Civil War
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With so many unidentified bodies turning up during the Civil War, the military needed to come up with a form of identification. Unidentifiable bodies often meant that loved ones didn't know if a soldier had survived a battle. Since long before the Civil War, soldiers are said to have written identification on papers they kept in their pockets, or on their clothing and equipment. Early soldiers also may have carved identification onto pieces of wood or smoothed-down coins.
First Dog Tags
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Early forms of dog tags were in use between 1862 and 1906. Such pieces were presented to members of government and even offered to private residents. In 1906, a single engraved, circular disk was adopted by the government and became a mandatory military accessory in 1913. The first tags were printed by hand with a stamping tool and worn around the neck on a string or rope.
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First Alterations
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Three years after the first dog tags were adopted as mandatory, a second design was introduced. It consisted of two printed aluminum disks, so one could be sent home to a deceased soldier's family.
Design Changes
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An oblong-shaped tag came next, followed by the familiar round-cornered rectangles of the M1940 dog tags still used today. The M1940s were made of stainless steel, which made them more tolerant to things such as corrosion and explosions. The new tags were printed more uniformly, using embossing machines.
Current Design
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The current dog tag design began to be used in 1940, but it was not until 1959 that the design was made mandatory for all branches of the military. During the Vietnam War, the government issued black dog tags with rubber silencers to forces that were operating behind enemy lines. Today, dog tags are used both in fashion and marketing, but military dog tags still are used to identify fallen soldiers and perform last rites according to religious preference.
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