Usually the dog tags have the T43-44. Which means the date of Tetanus applied. How was tetanus applied? The soldier had to take a vaccine, for example, 1943 and 1944? What was the process like? Thank you.
The date on the dog tags was the year the soldier was vaccinated for Tetanus. Part of the induction process was to give all the basic vaccinations including Tetanus. Usually the initial shot was good for the duration of service and stamped on the tags in case medical records were lost so there would be no need to second guess if wounded. I doubt the process has changed much. In the 60's we took our fatigue top off, lined up and shuffled through with a corpsman on each side giving shots. Then marched outside and made to throw logs to circulate the the stuff.
Please remember to mention the nationality of the nation you refer to. I suppose you are talking about the U.S. but there happens to be other nations in the world and many of our members are Britsh, Aussie, Canadian, French, Dutch , German etc....
I know they didn't have them in WWII, but in the 60's they were really hot on using tht damn air gun that forced the vaccine through the skin and left a big welt. Some shots were still given by syringe, Tetanus was probably one.
When I was in BT (late 1970s), the guy in front of me flinched and the air gun shot across his arm and left a 2 inch gash in his arm. Not surprisingly, I stood perfectly still when it was my turn.
Skipper Thanks for pointing out that there are a few Limeys on the forum In October 1942, when I was first "Called up", we were soon introduced to injections. The entry in my pay-book says TT, TAB & Tett and iti was achieved by obliging us to pass between medical orderlies jabbing us in both arms at the same time with very blunt needles It was amusing to see that the most likely chaps to slump to the deck were those who seemed the largsst and the strongest Ron
My Dad refused the innoculations in '43. Perhaps due to his uncles experience during the Spanish Civil War as described in his letter 22 Jul '37
USN, USMC, Merchant Marine dog tags-information/format: http://www.usmcwwiidogtags.com/ US Army-USAAF https://www.armydogtags.com/a_notched.php
