What is a dogtag?
A dog tag is the informal name for the identification tags worn by military personnel. The tag is primarily used for the identification of dead and wounded and essential basic medical information for the treatment of the latter along with providing religious preference. Dog tags are usually fabricated from a corrosion-resistant metal, although, during wartime, they have been made from whatever metals were available.
In the US Military, wearing of the tag is required at all times by soldiers in the field. It may contain two copies of the information that allows one to be collected for notification while the other remains with the body when battle conditions do not allow the casualty to be immediately recovered. One is worn on a long chain around the neck; the second on a much smaller chain attached to the first chain.
During the Civil War, some soldiers pinned paper notes with their name and home address to the backs of their coats. Other soldiers stencilled identification on their knapsacks or scratched it in the soft lead backing of the Army belt buckle. Manufacturers of identification badges recognized a market and began advertising in periodicals. Their pins were usually shaped to suggest a branch of service and engraved with the soldier’s name and unit.
The U.S. Army first authorized identification tags in War Department General Order No. 204, dated Dec. 20, 1906. The Army changed regulations on July 6, 1916, so that all soldiers were issued two tags: one to stay with the body and the other to go to the person in charge of the burial for record-keeping purposes. In 1918, the Army adopted and allotted the serial number system, and name and serial numbers were ordered stamped on the identification tags of all enlisted troops.
Following World War II, the US Navy Department adopted the dog tags used by the US Army and Air Force, so a single shape and size became the American standard.
In the Vietnam War, American soldiers were allowed to place rubber silencers on their dog tags so the enemy would not hear the metallic clanking. Others chose to tape the two tags together with black tape. Still others chose to wear one tag around the neck and the other tag on the lace of one boot. All three variations were commonly seen among U.S. troops.
Similar systems of identification are used by other nations as well.
KERKRADE, Holland– After having been buried for decades in the forests surrounding a small Dutch city, a young man happened on a tiny piece of World War II history, a relic linking him with a community a half a world away – Great Bend.
Rico Peters is a 29-year-old carpenter-turned-ambulance driver with a deep passion for a war that, even after 70 years, scars the Dutch landscape and its older residents. This passion dates to his childhood and has prompted him to start a small museum honoring those he calls heroes.
It also led him to purchase a metal detector to comb the woods around his home of Kerkrade, a city about the size of Salina in the southeast part of the Netherlands.
“I have uncovered many relics, personal items such as tooth brushes, tube’s of shaving cream, money, ration contents, buttons and a lot of shell cases.” He also found live ammunition.
Among these time-worn items was a dogtag with the name Jesse G. Burris stamped into it that he found last week. According to his research, Burris (full name Jesse Glen Burris) was born in Great bend in 1916. He joined the Army in 1941 as a warrant officer. He survived the war and died in 2001 at the age of 85, and is buried in Kansas City.
The stainless-steel tag also includes this informaiton – “Mrs. M. Amerine, Great Bend, Kansas, Rt. 1.”
Now, he wants to reunite the dogtag with the late soldier’s family.
“My dad passed away last October and I see how important it is to have anything from your dad,” he said. “That’s why I want to let the relatives know I found something that belongs at home. Until that day, it’s got a special place in my little museum.
“I’ve been honored to find this tag, and I want to let relatives know that he’s not forgotten,” he said. “Hopefully I will find a face that belongs to this dogtag and maybe make some relatives happy.”
A life-long passion
Peters’ interest in WW II began about 20 years ago. His father, born in 1943, related a story told to him by his mother. According to that tale, an American GI jumped on the mother and son during a German hand grenade attack that would have likely killed them both.
The soldier was wounded, but also survived.
“That short story touched my heart, and that was the beginning of the interest in the war,” he said. “German, Americans, British or Polish, it doesn’t matter.”
After buying and reading a lot of books, he came to what was for him a shocking conclusion. “Many of the American soldiers didn’t join the Army to fight, they joined because they wanted to protect their country and also free the world of Nazis and injustice. They gave their life for our freedom. At that age, it’s a really surprise.”
He wanted to find a way to honor these men, many of whom died on Dutch soil. “My father came with a great idea to adopt a American grave on the American Cemetery at Margraten.”
There they buried 8,000-plus soldiers in that hallowed ground during and following the war. After contacting the owner about adoption, he came up with two names. “I decided to adopt both graves.”
That was 14 years ago.
After much research and struggling to get information from the United States, he found the relatives of one of the soldiers. He maintains contact with both families now.
In fact, relatives of one of the soldiers are planning a visit him in Holland for three weeks, something he eagerly awaits. “I’m happy to lead the visitors through the world of WW II where her cousin died.”
But, his interest runs deeper. “You see, still after 70 years, the scars of war. Many foxholes, bunkers, trenches and still much pain by the older people.
“It’s special for me to combine the ground relics (found with the metal detector) with other original U.S. items I bought,” he said. “It tells me a story, a story of courage, loneliness and brave soldiers. The exact feeling isn’t to be described.”
His collection (which features memorabilia from all warring parties, but especially America) isn’t for sale, and will never be. “I’m collecting to show respect and to keep the history alive.” He also doesn’t think it is right to profit from the death of those heroes.
Peters lives with his girlfriend and his 18-month-old son Daan. He has a master’s degree in construction and has worked in that field. But, the due to the global recession, construction jobs have been scarce.
He has found work as an ambulance driver.
