Member Found!
At our Stated Meeting on May 9th., 2017, WB James Carlson gave a lecture relating to Veterans Day and the passing of Brother Dave Mitchell a member of Urania Lodge late last year. Recently the family began going over some of the items for a public auction and discovered a locket which contained his personal ID dog type tags which originated from WW1.
This is a explanation of this type of Identification;
The USA would have been the first nation to have adopted Identity Discs back in 1862 if the notion hadn’t been rejected. US troops therefore, like most of their European counterparts , had either no identification (other than in paper form) or supplied their own (private purchase tags from the Civil War, China Expedition and Spanish-American War appear in abundance). However, on 20 December 1906 , the War Department General Order number 204 officially sanctioned the first authorised US identity disc. This disc was a small circular aluminium disc, 3cm in diameter, that contained the soldier’s name, rank, unit and the letters “USA” (“United States Army”). It was worn around the neck on a thin bandage-like cotton ribbon.
In 1910 a tag was issued that was identical to the 1906 pattern in all ways except size. The 1910 tag measured 3.5cm in diameter. Both 1906 and 1910 pattern tags were, from this date on, issued in similar numbers and can be encountered relatively equally. There was one more change before the USA entered the war. Possibly due to reports from the nations already involved in the war or possibly due to experiences in Mexico, a second disc was introduced on 6 July 1916. From this date, the first disc (whether of 1906 or 1910 pattern) had two holes to facilitate the attachment of the second disc.
There was also a locket that was found belonging to Kenneth which was gold filled and made around the turn of the century (1900) by H.F. & Bro. It is noted that Kenneth’s wife was a long time school teacher at the Unionville School most likely the Darby High School long closed located in Unionville Center Ohio.
Further Investigation shows that Kenneth was infact a member of Urania Lodge. Last Entry found was dated July 31, 1950 as a member the following year does not show him on the records as of July 1951. It is my belief that he could have been a soldier during the Great World War 1 at the age of about 24 years. He died at age 58.
