The ever-changing history of the dog tag.

You will see from the following pages, the dog tag has had an interesting and ever changing history. In the United States it dates back to the Civil War, although those old tags were not official issue. It appears they were worn by some on a purely personal basis. We even had the potential for a civilian "Dog Tag" back in the FDR administration. There is currently talk of a new "Dog Tag" which will hold all sorts of information over and above the simple 5 lines they currently do. And the shapes have changed over the years - there were round ones, oval ones, notched ones, and the current one shown on our pages.

We would love to have any further information on the history of "Dog Tags" which we could publish for our customers and visitors to our web site.

I recently came across a website that has quite a bit of information and is helpful. So I am putting a free link for them. Enjoy the information and reading.

http://www.dogtaghistory.com/home.html

Civilian Dog Tag Photo:
Social Security Administration History Page

Military Dog Tag Photo Details:   The Dog Tag of a US Marine Corps (USMC) Marine listed as Missing In Action (MIA) is found among the debris and wreckage of a destroyed Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV7A1), at an ambush site located within the city of An Nasariyah, Iraq, during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. (Released to Public)
Location: AN NASARIYAH, DHI QAR IRAQ (IRQ)

DoD photo by: MSGT EDWARD D. KNIERY, USMC Date Shot: 11 Apr 2003