Dear Mr. History,
My dad served in the Air Force from 1947 to 1969. He has since passed, and I have his dog tags. Along with the tags is this black round sphere that unscrews. Can you please till me what it was used for on the dogtag chain?
—CSC
? ? ?
Dear CSC,
I can’t be sure from your description what that “black sphere” was or its purpose, but I can state that it was nothing official. The regulation item on an identification tag chain was identification tags; anything else was accessorizing. Two former U.S. Air Force acquaintances mentioned their add-ons, one being a P-38 can opener. The other said:
“I also had a GI can opener on mine, plus some Buddhist images. They were a big help in Southeast Asia; you could land at a Royal Thai Air Force Base, the ground crew would spot the Buddhas. We’d compare necklaces, and sometimes trade one Buddha symbol for another. Always guaranteed great service!”
As a light infantryman in the Army National Guard, I tended to limit what I carried on my ID tag chain to ID tags, with steps taken to keep them from making noise in the field.
Sincerely,
Jon Guttman
Research Director
World History Group
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