Rare WWII Japanese dog tag army officer

Rare WWII Japanese dog tag army officer

Japan badge medal WWII ID.

Size 4.5 x 3.5 cm

Japanese Army Dog Tags (1894-1945)

IJA dog tags were first introduced on 22 June, 1894 by Army Ordinance No.63 as “Specifications and Issuing Procedures for ID tags”, immediately before the Sino-Japanese War, which broke out only a month later. At that time, this regulation discussed the following 9 aspects.

1. Who were to be issued tags for free

2. Who had to purchase their own tags

3. How the tags were to be worn

4. How to keep track of who got assigned which number

5. What to do with outdated tags improvised by units prior to the regulation

6. Specifications for the disc and cord

7. What information to be stamped and where

8. Who had to assign numbers to the tags

9. Which budget to use for preparing the tags

Of these attributes the first 7 changed over time, so I will show how each of these items evolved. However, before putting points 8 and 9 totally aside, let me simply say that it was the responsibility of the headquarters of each unit to assign numbers to their members. Later when replacement units supplied soldiers to field units, numbers given by the replacement units served as personal numbers and the designation of the replacement unit was inserted between the field unit designation and the personal numbers. Budget coverage ceased to be mentioned from the 1924 regulation change, but until that time, it was the army trust account that got charged for the cost.