Identity Tags
US WWII Navy Issue Dogtag, USS Omaha, Capture of German Blockade Runner Odenwald & USS Bennion, Sinking of Battleship Yamashiro
Identity Tags
US WWII Navy Issue Dogtag, USS Omaha, Capture of German Blockade Runner Odenwald & USS Bennion, Sinking of Battleship Yamashiro
Item #46694 : Original era manufacture. Single US Navy pattern Identity Tag issued to Neil W Laudenslayer Jr., 250-40-95, Tetanus inoculation 6/42.On March 31 1939 Laudenslayer was assigned to the USS Pennsylvania, in February 1940 the USS Omaha CL-4, and on 31 December 1943 USS Bennion DD-662, where he stayed until 31 August 1945.The USS Omaha (CL-4) was the lead ship in her class, commissioned in 1923. On 6 November 1941, just prior to America's entry into WWII, she captured the German Blockade Runner SS Odenwald, becoming the last US Navy ship awarded Prize Money for a capture on the high seas. Evidently there was a considerable amount of fraternizing onboard the Omaha between the American sailors and their German prisoners; America was not yet at war, so tensions were not high. After December 7th the situation changed, so much so, that an official US Navy Intelligence Memorandum was issued regarding the events onboard Omaha regarding the future handling of enemy personnel. The USS Bennion was a Fletcher Class destroyer commissioned 14 December 1943. She reached the Pacific theater in March of 1945 and saw service in the following campaigns;Marianas Operation (10 June 1944 27 August 1944) Tinian Capture and Occupation (24 July 1944 1 August 1944) Western Caroline Islands Operation (31 August 14 October 1944) Leyte Operation (10 October 1944 29 November 1944) Luzon Operation (12 December 1944 1 April 1945) Iwo Jima Operation (15 February 1945 16 March 1945) Okinawa Gunto Operation (17 March 1945 30 June 1945) Third Fleet Operations Against Japan (10 July 1945 15 August 1945) She was credited with an assist in the sinking of the battleship IJN Yamashiro during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, when she sent to torpedoes into the stricken warship.