Why Were Fingerprints Etched into WWI Dog Tags

I love the handwritten look of these acid etched Navy tags.

🪖Don’t miss out on your daily dose of history! Follow World War Wisdom on TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube through this link! 🪖
.
.
.
.
.
#wwii #ww2 #worldwar2 #history #military #militaryhistory #reenactment #wwiireenactment #wwiireenactor #reenactor #wwiihistory #ww2history #todayinhistory #cod #callofduty #battlefield #warzone #worldoftanks #army #navy #marines #coastguard #airforce #didyouknow #dailyfacts #facts #todayilearned #todayyearsold #myths #historyfacts

[JPmaxever]

Well, it only works until you get an arm blown off

[stevebailey]

Did not know this. My tags from the Marines in 81 had name, last 4 ssn, religious affiliation, blood type and gas mask size. Great series, keep em coming!!

[void_of_trash]

Why is this dude so unexplainably handsome and staring into my soul?

[paulwestmoreland]

USMC dog tags in the late 80's had our entire SSN# on them.

[OG_Madness]

Fun fact back then (don’t know if it’s still used now) you actually had 4 sets of dog tags you had a ring tag a necklace tag and one tag on the big toe of each foot so say if you were blown to bits they could go around and match the dog tags to put you back together and ship you in a box back home so your family could have a proper funeral

[khangnguyen]

The Navy along with the Marines continued this process well into WWII. I have several Marine tags that were acid etched as late as 1943

[turtle]

Small correction, if they tags were made with acid etching then they would mark the blank tags with an acid resistant ink and when dipped in acid it would eat away all the metal not covered by ink, making the text raised.

[anthonyable]

In 2016 is when they finally stopped putting your social security number on them

[RocknRollAddicts]

This guy always has quality history content.

[kellyBorgman]

My Dad served in the Navy in WW2. He did have his fingerprint etched on his dog tag. I still have one of his tags.

[PhantomP]

For more on this, the USN Naval History and Heritage Command has the document on how the etching was to be done on their site.
Basically, the finger pad was dipped in powdered asphaltum and pressed onto the tag, leaving a fingerprint. Then the tag was dipped in nitric acid to etch the uncoated part of the tag. After cleaning off the fingerprint, there you go- a fingerprint in metal.

Search for BUREAU OF NAVIGATION CIRCULAR LETTER NO. 57-41 if you want the full details!

[AutisticWombot]

Found my granddad's pressed leather tags from WW2 the 9ther day. Really cool!

[nunyabusiness]

Comparing finger prints prior to computers must have been such a pain in the ass.

[PVT_Caboose]

Neat! I never heard about that one before.

[stradplayer]

That may make sense because in the navy you have ships killing ships, not the people on those ships. This implies that what may or may not kill a ship will absolutely kill a person. Therefore there may be less to identify which could solicit a finger print.

[thepatriot]

Back in 97 it had my full social security number on it.

[Dylan-]

Your videos are great! Very informative love learning about WW1 and WW2

[thomasharvill]

After seeing this, I have a WWI dog-tag! It looks so different from my father's WWII pair, that I didn't realize it was military related! Thanks!

[marooon]

Boutta join the army just to find out my blood type cuz I haven’t been able to get a doctor to freaking tell me

[perfekt]

Did ypu know that in some countries they took only one of the dogtags, and put the other one in the mouth of the dead, pressed up against the palate, jamming it between the teeth.

Cause they were made of silver, and if left outside on the body, they would often get stolen... but since your Jaws locks together for some time after you die, they could not steal the tag... and even if the jaws wasn't locked, they were relent to put their fingers inside the mouth of a body, and still had to break it out., to steal it, and that would be noticed.

Although there are other stories about putting dogtags in the mouth for various reasons, this one is actually true