M-1940 Dog Tag (Tag, Identification, M-1940)

Quartermaster entry

Stock No.: 74-T-60
Service: Quartermaster Corps
QM class: 74 – Individual Equipment
Period: Adopted 1940 · in service from February 15, 1941
Specifications: U.S. Army Spec. No. 6-258 (1940) · AR 600-40

At a glance

In 1941 the rectangular tag with rounded corners replaced the round disc in use since 1906. Its shape was dictated by the machine that stamped it: the Addressograph-Multigraph Corporation Graphotype, adapted from a credit-card printing process patented in 1937.

Dimensions: about 50 × 28 mm, 0.6 mm thick. A hole at one end for the chain, a notch at the other to position it in the machine.

Timeline

Date	Change
1906	First regulation identification disc, aluminum (one per man)
1916	Issue raised to two discs
July 1940	New serial numbering (AR 615-20)
December 12, 1940	Circular No. 151: rectangular tag adopted
February 15, 1941	M-1940 enters service
November 10, 1941	Tetanus shot (T + year) and religion added; switch to White-Monel
July 20, 1943	Name and address of the person to notify removed; regulation chain
Early 1943	Stainless steel becomes the substitute material
March 31, 1944	Last format: last name before first name (until 1946)
1945	Copper-nickel tags definitively withdrawn

Materials

Material	Appearance	Period
Yellow-Monel (≈ 55% nickel, 40% copper)	Coppery	1941 (stocks used throughout the war)
White-Monel (≈ 65% nickel, 20% copper)	Silvery, close to aluminum	Late 1941 – 1943
Stainless steel	Bright silver	1943 – sole standard material from 1944

The four stamping types

Type	Regulation	Lines
I	AR 600-40, Dec. 12, 1940	1. First and last name · 2. Serial number and blood type · 3 to 5. Name, street, city and state of the person to notify
II	AR 600-40, Nov. 10, 1941	As type I, with "T" + tetanus year after the serial number, and religion letter at the end of line 5 (P, C or H)
III	AR 600-40, July 20, 1943	1. First and last name · 2. Serial number, tetanus, blood type · 3. Religion (letter), or religion spelled out on line 5
IV	AR 600-40, March 31, 1944	1. Last and first name · 2. Serial number, tetanus, blood type · 3. Religion (letter or spelled out)

Reading a serial number

Range	Category
10,000,000 – 19,999,999	Regular Army enlistees (2nd digit = Corps Area, 1 to 9)
20,000,000 – 20,999,999	National Guard
30,000,000 – 39,999,999	Draftees (2nd digit = Corps Area)
100,000 – 999,999	Women's personnel

A letter may precede the serial number: O officer, W warrant officer, T flight officer, N Army Nurse Corps, A Women's Army Corps, L WAC officer, V WAC warrant officer, R dietitian, M physical therapist, CS contract surgeon, S Army Specialist Corps, ARC American Red Cross, Z merchant marine.

Corps Areas: 1 New England · 2 New York, New Jersey, Delaware · 3 Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, D.C. · 4 Southeast · 5 Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky · 6 Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin · 7 Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, the Dakotas · 8 Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona · 9 West Coast, Rockies and Alaska.