Army Dog Tags Korea 1950-53

The notch on the Dog Tag was there to align it on a handheld transcription machine called the Model 70 Addressograph which was used by field medics to quickly transfer the soldier’s information onto paper medical forms or burial records. This is also the reason why Dog Tags in this era were debossed so that they became in effect the printing press to record information on paperwork using an ink ribbon. Notched Dog Tags were standard issue until December 1964 until the Department of Defense officially switched to Dog Tags without notches in early 1965. However, military bases with older notched-style tags in inventory still issued them for a while from 1965 up until 1966. Some soldiers colloquially refered to it as a "tooth notch".

Dog Tags from WWII up until the Korean war included the year that a tetanus toxid vaccination shot was administered, in the format of T-## where the ## represents the year i.e. T-53.

Enter your info into the form below to easily create replica Army Dog Tags 1950-1953 (Korean War). You can often find this information on DD 214 discharge papers. Watch this YouTube video for a demo. You can also design your tags without a template, or use our pen-and-paper mail/fax order form, or just send us an email with a photo of the original Dog Tags.

Overwrite the light grey text with your particulars and then click the Preview button. You can then make optional changes to your design (i.e. hole/notch location) or choose difference chains and silencers.

Our replica Army Dog Tags 1950-1953 (Korean War) have Debossed (indented) text on a 2" x 1⅛" dull stainless steel notched Dog Tag, rolled edge down, hole on right with the suggested regulation format:

1. [Last Name], [First Name] [Middle Initial]
2. [Service Prefix][Service Number]
3. [T-][tt year 1]  ₁₇[Blood Type]
5.  ₁₇[Religion Code]

Subscript numbers _## indicate the field start position.

The Army began using the Service Number Prefixes: RA (Regular Army, volunteer enlisted), US (an enlisted draftee), NG (National Guard), ER (Enlisted Reserve), O (Officer) followed by an eight digit service number. There is no Rhesus factor on the blood type ( + or - ) as this technology did not exist at the time. For religious preference, the tags were marked C (Catholic), P (Protestant), H (Hebrew) or left blank for no preference. In 1952 introduction of the letter 'X' to designate other religious affiliations not covered under Protestant/Catholic/Jewish faith groups, and the letter 'Y' for those who did not have a religious preference. The letter 'J' replaced 'H' for Jewish US servicemen.