i was wondering if someone can shed some light on a discussion i was having with a friend. my uncle was killed in 1945 in iwo jima. i carry his dog tag with me and it is an oval tag from the u.s.m.c.. a friend has her fathers dog tag from the army and it is square and has a notch cut in it (supposedly to stick in the teeth should you be killed in action). my question is: did different branches issue different dog tags and is the notch in the army one truely for the above purpose?

The oval dogtag was an old Marine Corps tradition unique to that branch until a bunch of government fools decided it would be more productive to make all dogtags the same for every branch of the US Military. Now all the branches have the same rectangular tag.

As for the notch, it is just a small gap left there after the tag is clamped off of a bigger piece of metal during production. The teeth myth sounds a lot cooler though doesn't it?

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The teeth idea was a myth.

The notch was a guide for the tag to fit in the lettering machine correctly.

According to Mortuary Affairs (formerly Graves Registration):
One of the more common myths involves the reason for the notch on the tag issued between 1941 and the early 1970's. Battlefield rumor held that the notched end of the tag was placed between the front teeth of battlefield casualties to hold the jaws in place. No official record of American soldiers being issued these instructions exists; the only purpose of "the notch" was to hold the blank tag in place on the embossing machine. The machine used at this time doesn't require a notch to hold the blank in place, hence, today's tags are smooth on all sides.

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Best Regards,
JW

Here's my Dad's R.A.F. dog tags from ww2. One is made from fire resistant material the other from liquid resistant material.

Attached Images

	Dog tag 1.jpg (78.5 KB, 7 views)
	Dogtag 1a.jpg (69.3 KB, 3 views)

yeah interesting them tags mate never would of guessed they were dog tags after watchin all the films rectangle metal tags seem the norm