A list of religion abbreviations found on the tags is given below:īAP – Baptist. Religion is sometimes, but not always, recorded. Setting religion and initials aside, you could now search for a medal index card using the number and surname or number and regiment. The two tags illustrated show the following: number (151507), initials (W R), surname (Ward) regiment (RGA – Royal Garrison Artillery) and religion (Baptist). In the case of the photograph of the artillery corporal from my previous blogpost in this series, you can now add the name, number and regiment and start looking for more information. Both discs contained the same information but the green octagonal discs should remain with the body.īy having a small disc with name, number and regiment stamped on it, means that you can use that information to look for a medal index card or a service record. On 24 September 1916 a second disc was introduced by General Routine Order (GRO) 1922 ( WO 123/200) so a soldier now had to wear two compressed discs one red and one green. By removing the two key forms of identification from a body, the possibility of misidentification of the dead became more likely. The Field Regulations Part II, 1909, Chapter XVI paragraph 133, with amendments of October 1914, stated that ‘Anyone concerned with burying a soldier, or finding a body after an action, will remove the identity disc and pay book’. On 21 August 1914 it was decided to move away from a metal tag, to a single compressed vulcanised rubber red coloured one.īut such was the destructive power of weapons in the First World War that the army had allowed a flaw to remain in its guidance relating to the administration of casualties. Army Order (AO) 9 of 1907 ( WO 123/49), laid down that all soldiers should wear a single metal tag, with the name, rank, number, regiment and religion stamped into the tag. One problem that doesnt often come to mind is the identification of remains in war. One may question the value of having a mini dog tag on ones person, but in some contexts, their usefulness makes sense. The British Army only started using aluminium discs in 1907. Military dog tag is a soldier accessory use in the army corps to identify soldiers during war. Tags to identify individual soldiers were first used during the American Civil War in 1865. To the First World War research community, and to military researchers in general, the disc identity (as it was first called by the British Army), otherwise known as the ID disc or dog tag, is a very useful signpost when looking into the career of an individual. If you watch the ‘Christmas truce’ football match advert by a certain supermarket, watch carefully as you may see a British soldier with a single disc suspended from his neck. The two tags show the following: number (151507), initials (W R), surname (Ward) regiment (RGA – Royal Garrison Artillery) and religion (Baptist).
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