Images(2)

Tag, Identification

Object number2008.101.5

Date1944

OriginGermany

MediumSteel

Credit LineGift of Joseph A. Cardinal

DescriptionPrisoner of War ID tag. Steel metal rectangular plate. Two cut holes on top edge. Machine-engraved identification text on front.Dimensions1.875 x 3.25 in. (4.8 x 8.3 cm)
InscriptionsMachine-engraved on front: "STAL. LUFT 6 / 1315".
Historical NotesPOW ID tag belonging to John Cardinal. John Cardinal served with the United States Army Air Force as a pilot in the Second World War. After being shot down in Germany, Cardinal was a Prisoner of War at Stalag Luft VI for the remainder of the war. A native of Tarentum, Pennsylvania, he was born April 24, 1917 and died July 13, 1947. He died at home from complications due to his time in the prisoner of war camp. Stalag Luft VI was a POW Camp located near the town of Šilutė (Heydekrug in German), in what is now Lithuania. It was the northern-most German POW camp; it opened in 1943, and the first Americans arrived in February 1944. When the Russians began to advance in July, the camp closed and the prisoners moved to camps further into Germany or Poland.

Related institution United States Army Air Forces

Previous owner John P. Cardinal (1917 - 1947)

Subjects

Terms

On View

Not on view