✅ SOLVED Grandfathers name on badge ??? What is this?

[wayfas4u]

Grandfather's name on badge What is this?

Found my grandfather's name on a badge of some sort dug in a field by the old homesite. My grandfather died 25 years ago at the age of 100! On the front is J.A.Duncan (my grandfather), Boston, Georgia. On the back I cannot figure out what it is. A four letter word in blue with 'wings' near it. What is this?

 

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[wayfas4u]

Oh Wow!!!! How cool is this? He was born in 1889! My mouth has dropped seeing this! My mother is still alive (last one out of 9 children), and I am passing this info on to her! I was once on Ancestry.com but I never came across this information! SODABOTTLEBOB, Thank you kind sir! I am grateful you passed this on to me!

 

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[SODABOTTLEBOB]

way4

I'm glad I found the right Joshua Alfred Duncan. Here's his 1940 census when he was 50 years old with four children and listed as a farmer. So far I haven't seen any indication where he served in the armed forces, which leaves the question unanswered as to why he had a disabled veterans tag? I'll take a another look and see what else I can find.


View attachment Duncan, Joshua 1940 Census.jpg

 

[wayfas4u]

Soda, I do have a copy of this 1940 census as well as a 1920 copy. I also cannot find any document as to why he had a disabled veterans tag. This has become an interesting topic with my family!

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

Because I cannot find any indication where your grandfather served in the military, I'm wondering if the ID tag belonged to another family member with the initials J. A. Duncan who was related to your grandfather and lost the tag while visiting your grandfather? If the tag is from WWII, then the person it belonged to would likely have been born around 1920. If the tag is from the Korean war, then the person it belonged to would likely have been born around 1930. If Vietnam = born around 1945-50

Are there any other J.A. Duncan family members you are aware of?

 

[NHBandit]

The DAV has been offering little trinkets as a thank you for contributions for many years. It my guess he wouldn't have had to be a vet to get a tag. Weren't they also the ones who would send you a miniature license plate with your plate number on it to put on your key chain ?

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

I'm thinking NHBandit might be right about the tag being sent to J. A. Duncan because of a donation he made to the American veterans association. Based on Bramblefind's find and others I've seen that are similar, the tag appears to be from the WWII era.

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

Here's a similar tag on it's original card which was described as being from 1948. The description also said the tags could be acquired by donating 25-Cents to the DAV association.

 

[wayfas4u]

You are really onto something here Soda! There was another family member who died before my mother was born - a son Otis Duncan who shows up on the 1920 Census as 4 years of age. My mother remembers here mother saying Otis was off in the CCC camp, I assume this was the Civilian Conservation Corps. Other than that, one other son(Leon) served in the Navy for a short time.

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

way4

I hope you won't be disappointed with this, but it appears there is some missing paint from your grandfather's tag. Part of what's missing is where it says THIS DOG BELONGS TO and MY BEST FRIEND. This is the only DAV tag I've found that matches yours. Notice it has two holes and the name is painted on instead of hand written like the other example I found. I can only speak for myself, but I'm confident now that your tag is a dog tag. Compare the following images and see what you think.


(I don't know what years the dog tags were available but searching to see if I can find out)

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

According to various sources, the Disabled American Veterans of the World War (DAVWW) was officially created on September 25, 1921, at its first National Caucus, in Hamilton County Memorial Hall in Cincinnati. The demands of WWII required the urgent expansion of the organization, which officially changed its name to Disabled American Veterans to recognize the impact of the new war.[SUP] [/SUP]In 1941, DAV launched a direct mail campaign, distributing "IdentoTags", miniature license plates which could be attached to a key ring with instructions that lost keys should be mailed to the DAV, who would return them to the owners. In 1945, the DAV expanded the Idento Tag program and brought the manufacturing in-house, eventually purchasing complete ownership of the program in 1950. The program proved long-lasting and highly successful, both in bringing in donations and employing veterans in manufacture. By 1952, 350 people were employed in the endeavor, which brought in over $2 million a year in donations.[SUP] [/SUP]Meanwhile, the number of disabled veterans had been increased by the still-ongoing Korean War. The DAV suffered a decline in the later 1950s and into the 1960s, with diminishing leadership and funds, but it rallied around the veterans of the Vietnam War and also focused heavily on working for prisoners of war and missing in action. Vietnam veterans soon filled the diminished ranks of the National Service Officers. On Veterans Day, 1966, the DAV moved its headquarters to Cold Spring, Kentucky. The following year, the IdentoTag program was discontinued in favor of providing address labels, with a request for donation, when changes in license plate practices made continuing the IdentoTag program impracticable.

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

I found this, but still don't know the date. The mini license plate has 66 on it for 1966, but that could be misleading because it's probably not original to the card. This card looks later than the one I posted earlier which was described as being from 1948. My guess is the dog tags are from the 1950s and 1960s. "Idento-Tags" were discontinued in 1967.

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

I'm finding lots of pictures of the Idento-Tag "cards" but so far this is the only one that matches the last one I posted. I've discovered the best way to date them is to see what the numbers are on the mini license plates, which in this example is a 52 for 1952.

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

Here's another Idento card with the image of the U.S. Capitol on it. This one is dated 1948. Because this same type of card was used during various years for the mini license plates and probably for the dog tags as well, it could be next to impossible to determine exactly when way4's grandfather's dog tag was made. That is unless someone in way4's family happens to recall when the grandfather, J.A. Duncan, had a dog in the 1940s or 1950s. As for myself, I'd like to hear more about such a dog and what his name was? Otherwise, this will pretty much conclude my contributions regarding the tag in question.

 

[PullTabPete]

Very nice detective work SodaBottleBob! I remember the mini-license plates when I was kid in the early 70's.

Now from DAV I get a ton of address labels each year for donating, I kind of like the license plates better, but it is a good cause so it doesn't matter to me.

Cheers,


Pete

 

[wayfas4u]

Great work soda! Now if I can only get a list up of all the family dog names, maybe we can identify the year of the tag . I am not disappointed at all. Sentimentally speaking I am just overjoyed to find anything with granddads name on it dug in a cotton field. Neat stuff, I love this hobby. Thank you for all your efforts, you have done outstanding research!!

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

way4

I'm glad everything worked out as it did. The name of your grandfather's dog might remain a mystery, but please tell us more about how the tag was found. Were you digging for artifacts or did you come across the tag by accident? And did you find anything else of interest?


By the way, when I was searching family names earlier, I was able to trace your Duncan family all the way back to your great-great-great grandfather, Dugal Duncan who, as you know, was born in Scotland in 1760. The earliest document I found for Dugal was a 1820 Census, but it only listed his name and not much else.

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

way4

P.S.

Because I saved this from earlier, I thought I'd go ahead and share it. Its a 1900 Census for your Great Grandfather, Isaiah Franklin Duncan, and is for the Dry Lake District, Brooks County, Georgia.


This is the only document I saved, but if you would like to see any others, such as for your great-great grandfather, Alfred Earl Duncan, who was born in 1803, please let me know and I will be happy to retrieve and post them.

For some reason, your grandfather is listed as "Alfred" on this census and not Joshua.

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

Just for the record ...

The Disabled American Veteran "Idento Dog Tags" were first introduced in 1948

 

[wayfas4u]

So now we know! I will ask my mom what dog this may have came from

 

[wayfas4u]

If it's not too much trouble, please send me Alfred earl Duncan's census document. I really appreciate this, all of which I am sharing with my mother.