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During the Civil War, more than a quarter of dead soldiers remained unidentified. It was very difficult, even for family, to identify the soldiers.
Soldiers wanted to receive proper burials if something happened. They started buying customized name tags made of metal or wood. They used to pin the tags on the lapel or wear them around the neck because that tag could help bring the dead soldier home.
During the Spanish-American War, a military chaplain named Charles Pierce pushed to make these improvised tags official. He worked in the morgue and noticed that the bodies of soldiers who’d elected to wear pins had a much better chance of being sent home. He designed a military-issued tag: round, aluminum, the size of a half-dollar. “It is better that all men shall wear these marks as a military duty than that one should fail to be identified,” he wrote.
In 1906, it became an official part of our soldiers uniforms. By World War I, soldiers wore two tags. “One tag remained with the body, tied around the legs or ankles or feet,” Hanson says. “And one tag was put outside the coffin, or it might be nailed to the cross or Hebrew star.” The tags soon evolved into mementos with powerful symbolism. “In many cases, the tags are presented to the family,” Hanson says. “The tag is a link between the soldier and his loved ones.”
Noris
