Attempts to identify soldiers go back to ancient warfare. Some Spartan warriors put their names on sticks which were tied to their wrist. After a Roman legionary was enrolled, he was given a “signaculum” which was an identification disk worn around the neck during their training. He gave it up when he officially became a legionary. Chinese soldiers wore them in the mid-19th Century. Prussian soldiers wore them in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. There is evidence that the Prussian soldiers called them “dog tags” (hundermarken) because they were similar to those worn by dogs in Berlin. British soldiers wore two identification disks in WWI.
The idea of dog tags goes back to the Civil War. Yankees and Rebels were understandably concerned about whether their bodies would be identified so they could avoid an unmarked grave. This was not an unjustified fear as historians estimate that about 40% of bodies were not identified. In Vicksburg National Cemetery, 13,000 of the 17,000 graves are unnamed. To avoid this fate, some had their name stitched on their uniform. The Battle of Cold Harbor is infamous partly because many Union soldiers were so sure of death they put their names on pieces of paper in their pockets. Sadly, many had their premonitions confirmed. Others carved their name on a piece of wood and wore it around their neck. Some etched their names and addresses on the backs of their belt buckles. Sutlers, ever eager to make money off the soldiers, offered engraved medallions.
The idea of identification through something worn on the body lay in limbo until after the Spanish-American War. In the suppression of the Philippine Insurrection, the issue arose again. In 1899, Chaplain Charles C. Pierce, head of the Army Morgue and Office of Identification, called for identification disks. In 1906, the Army implemented an aluminum disk that had name, rank, and unit on a chain or cord. In 1913, it became a requirement. In 1916, a second disk was added. These were given to all enlisted. Officers had to purchase theirs. The Navy got on board in 1917 and added the sailor’s fingerprint etched on the back. During WWI, the serial number was added. Then a C for Catholic, H for Hebrew, or P for Protestant. Dog tags fell out of use between the wars.
In 1941, dog tags made a comeback and were required of all service members. The name began to be used by everyone. It is believed to have been coined by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst in 1936 to take a jab at the rumor that the Social Security Administration would require an identification nameplate or card for all participants. Some attribute the name to doughboys in the Great War who would associated the tags with their treatment like dogs. Or it may be that they simply looked like tags dogs wore on their collars.
The WWII version was a rounded, rectangular nickel-copper tag with name, rank, serial number, blood type, and religious denomination (optional). Some had a T for tetanus vaccination. (This was dropped in the Korean War.) For a while, they had the man’s emergency contact and their address.
Starting in WWI, one tag stayed on the body and the other was collected by his unit. The tags had a notch that was created by the machine that created them. The notch was NOT for one tag to be put in between the corpse’s front teeth and then hammered in so it stayed with the body. In the 1950s, one of the tags was put on a shorter chain. That one was then attached to a toe and became known as a “toe tag”. It is a myth that the longer chain had 365 beads and the shorter 52 so prisoners of war could keep track of time. Starting in 1959, both tags stayed with the body, but in Vietnam the Army was back to taking one and sending the other with the body. Grunts began putting the shorter chained one in their boot or attached to the bootstraps. From 1969-2015, social security numbers replaced serial numbers. This policy was changed for obvious reasons with the advent of the internet.
In WWII, Great Britain issued two tags with information similar to the Americans. The Germans had one tag that was perforated down the middle so it could be snapped apart. Soviet soldiers sometimes wore a small cylinder with a strip of paper with their name on it.
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