I'm going to assume since this dog tag is 70+ years old and you published it, you dont mind the following questions:
I cant figure out whats printed on the dog tag. As best I can make out, I see:
GRACE EULTS G. NA 14155401 CPL CO C 21 INF P 12 R 4 G 162T UIRYANG CEM
This is from WW2 or Korea? The "notch" makes it tend toward WW2(?) The name format is Last/First/MI, so is "EULIS" his first name? (It looks like EULTS, but only EULIS makes sense.) I couldnt coordinate the format of the dogtag with WW2 formats (Name /.../Blood Type/ Religion). And shouldn't the last line be "religion"? What is "--RYANG CEM"? (Could CEM be "cemetery"?)
BREAKING EDIT: Found him: Eulis Grant Grace, Sr.
Service # 14155401 Rank Corporal, U.S. Army Unit 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division Place of Birth Johnson, Tennessee Date of Birth 1928 Date of Death December 10, 1950
Corporal Grace was a member of the 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was Killed in Action while fighting the enemy in South Korea on December 10, 1950.
Corporal Grace was awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.
Wow, guy was 22 years old at the time. Being that he died December 10, 1950, he was perhaps involved in the pell-mell withdrawal in reaction to the Chinese Second-Phase Offensive that drove UN forces back to the 38th parallel.
Edit2: The Eulis was going to make me guess KY/TN/AL, since the namespedia link's map showed those states as having it as a surname.
Edit3: Findagrave link gives a picture of Cpl Grace and his gravestone, which says he was in WW2 also?! (I think this must be erroneous, since he'd have a WW2 service medal if he'd participated. Plus, he was 17 in 1945.)
Edit4: Koreanwar.org link says "his remains were recovered much later." Perhaps this explains the RYANG CEM(etary). Graves Registration Service did use dogtags on unknown bodies, so they probably did the same for known ones in temporary graves. Seems reasonable this dogtag was printed on-site after his death as part of graves registration (and might even have been the one buried with him, attached by the lead seal and wire). Perhaps P 12 R 4 G 1627 (corrected) had to do with where he was temporarily buried (Plot, Row, Grave), before he was moved to the final resting place in Peterson Cemetery, Tennessee.
Edit5: It's MIRYANG, Korea:
[A]s the Battle of Pusan Perimeter developed, temporary cemeteries were established at Masan, Miryang, and Taegu, with a Pusan cemetery being established on July 11, 1950.
So, final translation of dogtag: GRACE,EULIS G. RA 14155401 CPL CO C 21 INF P 12 R 4 G 1627 MIRYANG CEM
Epilogue: I think I'm done. This was pretty exciting, tracking down a full picture from only a blurred dogtag. The only thing we might want to know are the circumstances of Cpl Grace's death. December 13, 1950 would put him at the tail end of the retreat from the Chinese counter-offensive, north of (or near) the 38th parallel. But then why was he buried in Miryang [in the south] and not farther north? (Perhaps he had a lingering injury as a result of a casualty during the Battle of the Pusan Perimeter?) I wonder if "his remains were recovered much later" has any relevance-- did that mean he was originally classified MIA?
Final Epilogue: While 22 year-old Eulis, Sr was serving in Korea, he had a 3 year-old waiting for him back in Tennessee: Eulis G. Grace, Jr. That Eulis would also serve, as a Marine in Viet Nam, 3 tours of duty, and come back home.
And there's a local TN news story about this medal (Link1Link2), which suspiciously uses the same wording that OP used in the thread title. (However, I don't think we should be suspicious since the photo itself is obviously original and was not used in the article.)
And thank you, anonymous redditor, for the gold (my first).
upstateduck on October 7th, 2017 at 13:46 UTC »
I do flips and one of the most heartbreaking things is finding old family letters/pictures etc in a foreclosed house.
I have tried to track folks down before with no luck
The most common thing to find? Weird porn and pet damage
TakesTheWrongSideGuy on October 7th, 2017 at 15:46 UTC »
My grandma found photos of our family in an antique shop one time.
petzl20 on October 7th, 2017 at 16:14 UTC »
I'm going to assume since this dog tag is 70+ years old and you published it, you dont mind the following questions:
I cant figure out whats printed on the dog tag. As best I can make out, I see:
GRACE EULTS G. NA 14155401 CPL CO C 21 INF P 12 R 4 G 162T UIRYANG CEM
This is from WW2 or Korea? The "notch" makes it tend toward WW2(?) The name format is Last/First/MI, so is "EULIS" his first name? (It looks like EULTS, but only EULIS makes sense.) I couldnt coordinate the format of the dogtag with WW2 formats (Name /.../Blood Type/ Religion). And shouldn't the last line be "religion"? What is "--RYANG CEM"? (Could CEM be "cemetery"?)
BREAKING EDIT: Found him: Eulis Grant Grace, Sr.
https://abmc.gov/node/312106
Wow, guy was 22 years old at the time. Being that he died December 10, 1950, he was perhaps involved in the pell-mell withdrawal in reaction to the Chinese Second-Phase Offensive that drove UN forces back to the 38th parallel.
Edit2: The Eulis was going to make me guess KY/TN/AL, since the namespedia link's map showed those states as having it as a surname.
Curiously, the wiki link for 21st Infantry Regiment doesn't list participation in Korea for some reason.
Edit3: Findagrave link gives a picture of Cpl Grace and his gravestone, which says he was in WW2 also?! (I think this must be erroneous, since he'd have a WW2 service medal if he'd participated. Plus, he was 17 in 1945.)
Edit4: Koreanwar.org link says "his remains were recovered much later." Perhaps this explains the RYANG CEM(etary). Graves Registration Service did use dogtags on unknown bodies, so they probably did the same for known ones in temporary graves. Seems reasonable this dogtag was printed on-site after his death as part of graves registration (and might even have been the one buried with him, attached by the lead seal and wire). Perhaps P 12 R 4 G 1627 (corrected) had to do with where he was temporarily buried (Plot, Row, Grave), before he was moved to the final resting place in Peterson Cemetery, Tennessee.
Edit5: It's MIRYANG, Korea:
So, final translation of dogtag: GRACE,EULIS G. RA 14155401 CPL CO C 21 INF P 12 R 4 G 1627 MIRYANG CEM
Epilogue: I think I'm done. This was pretty exciting, tracking down a full picture from only a blurred dogtag. The only thing we might want to know are the circumstances of Cpl Grace's death. December 13, 1950 would put him at the tail end of the retreat from the Chinese counter-offensive, north of (or near) the 38th parallel. But then why was he buried in Miryang [in the south] and not farther north? (Perhaps he had a lingering injury as a result of a casualty during the Battle of the Pusan Perimeter?) I wonder if "his remains were recovered much later" has any relevance-- did that mean he was originally classified MIA?
Final Epilogue: While 22 year-old Eulis, Sr was serving in Korea, he had a 3 year-old waiting for him back in Tennessee: Eulis G. Grace, Jr. That Eulis would also serve, as a Marine in Viet Nam, 3 tours of duty, and come back home.
And there's a local TN news story about this medal (Link1 Link2), which suspiciously uses the same wording that OP used in the thread title. (However, I don't think we should be suspicious since the photo itself is obviously original and was not used in the article.)
And thank you, anonymous redditor, for the gold (my first).