Post by oskar2ndchev on Mar 13, 2008 7:51:55 GMT -8
Brian asked me if ID numbers were issued to Marines serving with the AEF so I made some inquiries on "The Trench Line". Here's the answer I got:
Interesting- some real food for thought. Marcus, you may want to chime in here.
The Marine Corps did issue dog tags, they were about 1 3/8" in diameter and had only one hole (I think the Army tags were slightly smaller and had two holes, but I'm not sure). The Marine tags typically came pre-engraved with "U.S.M.C" right above the hole (notice that there is no period after the letter "C"--this is intentional--the Marine tags seem to omit this period). The information usually found on Marine tags is the name (stamped in a semicircle along the upper edge), date of most recent enlistment (stamped in the middle of the tag), and the serial number (stamped on the reverse side). Some Marine tags did not come with the pre-engraved "U.S.M.C" and this was added by the stamper at the same time as the other info. I have occasionally seen the man's unit stamped in lieu of the enlistment date, but I have yet to see the man's rank on a Marine tag.
As for USMC serial numbers, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason.
Most numbers from WWI seem to be 6-digit and begin with numbers ranging from "1" to "4". In the following examples, note that the leading digit doesn't necessarily correlate to a range of dates (116949 and 304327 are from 1917 but 286489 is from 1915):
116949 (enlisted 10 Apr 17)
119185 (enlisted 20 Dec 15)
290680 (enlisted 20 Dec 17)
286489 (enlisted 20 Oct 15)
305614 (enlisted 12 Jun 17)
304347 (enlisted 31 Jan 18)
304327 (enlisted 1 Aug 17)
460705 (enlisted 7 Apr 18)
Just to add some additional confusion, there are a great number of 7-digit serial numbers on record, and the majority of them begin with a "4" but the enlistment dates aren't confined to any specific time period. A few examples:
4604129 (29 Nov 17)
4616813 (29 Jun 18)
4608179 (21 Feb 17)
4606269 (23 Jun 18)
If that isn't enough, the Marines serving in the AEF apparently were assigned an Army serial number as well. Examples:
Pvt. Stuart Hutcheson 117555 (USMC), 84484 (Army)
Cpl. Edward Cary 122355 (USMC), 94015 (Army)
GySgt Jim Sutherland 117477 (USMC), 65329 (Army)
SgtMaj Oscar Swan 107957 (USMC), 66509 (Army)
I have only seen these Army numbers in written records, never on Marine tags alongside the USMC numbers.
Hope this helps. All this information is based on my own limited observation; I've never seen any formal analysis of USMC tags and serial numbers in WWI.
Interesting- some real food for thought. Marcus, you may want to chime in here.
