Sunday 25 September 2016

Poem ~ Soldiers' Identities - Monday, 25 September 1916 - Tuesday, 26 September 1916

Source: File: Identity Tags: Fergus Read. See an original image at: <http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/first-world-war-identity-tags> [Accessed 25 September 2016]

Issued as an unseen part of uniform,
To be common amongst all armies
On each side - ideas of identity discs
Had been around since 1862 when
ID was worn by all Union soldiers -
Though the American notion was
Officially rejected, many soldiers
Chose still to wear them two years
Later came ideas of Hundesmarke.

Supposedly Koenig Wilhelm raged;
'My soldiers are not dogs!' forbidden
The Prussian soldiers continued
The reference - in and out of favour
The badge gave superstition - for
Some as herald of death - then1870
The Franco Prussian war officially
Provided the recognition tag to all
Prussian troops, obligatory by 1878.

Other countries copied France like
Belgium in the late 1880s - while
Britain already having description
Cards in tunic pockets from 1890s.
Then, January 1907 Army Order 9
Of British army produced identity
Disc - specifically stating stamped
Aluminum discs to be worn about
Necks on a cord, 42 inches long.

Amendments came at war's break -
1914 with cost of aluminium too great
Led to new discs being devised, from
Brick coloured vulcanided asbestos -
The disc still stamped as from 1907 -
Yet some choose to acquire privately  
Bought bracelet forms - while some
Had second disc; in want of a stamp
An alternative record was written in ink.

With such exceptions, identifying
The dead was made hard - methods
Of administration were to remove
The disc from the body - an enquiry
Run by Commission of Graves
Registration made recommendation;
By May 1916 making a second disc.
Highlighted by the Army Order 287,
By September 1916 was compulsory.

In the act of administration of dead
Newspapers publicized the fact that
Each British soldier were to wear
Two discs - Disc Identity no 1, green,
Also made of vulcanised asbestos,
Cut into a lozenge shape - while red
Disc would be Disc identity no 2 -
This latter disc in event of a soldier
Or officer dying would be removed.

The tan ID would hang from below
The green on 6 inch cord, on a longer
Cord, holding the green disc, would
Remain on the body into the burial -
As regulated by Army Order 287
Of 1916, every active personnel were
To wear them around the neck; any
Neglect to do so would be a breech
Of discipline, active from November.

The original pattern of aluminum
Was stamped with a man's name,
Regiment, rank, religion all along
With a service number - a change
Was made to drop religion and
Rank, but reconsideration restored
Religion - with any man's alteration
To rank led to a new one stamped -
Such was idea to solve problems.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Soldiers' Identity Discs. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 25 September 1916. P.6. Col.5. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213292/Daily-Telegraph-September-25-1916.html> [Accessed: 25 September 2016].

Source: File: Weapons, Equipment And Uniforms - Identifying the Dead: a Short Study of the Identification Tags of 1914-1918. Available at: <http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/the-great-war/great-war-on-land/weapons-equipment-uniform/1033-identifying-dead-short-study-identification-tags-1914-1918.html> [Accessed 25 September 2016]

Source: File: WWI Identity Tags. Available at: <http://fmlhw.webplus.net/ww1identitytags.html> [Accessed 25 September 2016]

Source: File: Hodgkinson, P., 2007. Clearing The Dead. Available at: <http://www.vlib.us/wwi/resources/clearingthedead.html> [Accessed 25 September 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 25 September 2016). 



#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Uniforms

No comments:

Post a Comment