Modern dog tag, British or American?
 

This identity disc came with a Burma Star group issued by the Rhodesian authorities but is clearly later than WW2 vintage. It appears to be of the type issued to American military personnel except that the details do not appear to follow the American format, i.e. surname, first name, service number, blood group, religion.

I am not sure what format is used on British identity discs but the eight figure service number starts with a 0 and has a post nominal E.

Do British dog tags give the service number before the name?

Here are the details:

05050828E
G P Thompson
FC BLGP O RH-

Could it be Rhodesian?

Any thoughts would be welcome.

Not Rhodesian.
Attachment 190976

Thank you for that. I appreciate that the dog tags are modern and do not go with the medal group.I wondered if there is perhaps a family connection the son of a Rhodesian Burma campaign veteran who served in the British Army, if indeed, the tags are in fact British.

Personally I have never seen a British Army id disc that matches the one shown.

Regards Simon.

Many thanks, it certainly does not appear to be standard British issue and yet it has a very English name on it.

It looks South African to me.

That is something that I hadn't though of. Do you know anything about South African service numbers?

It is definitely a South African made dog tag. The number is a bit strange. All numbers except for the very early ones consisted of 8 digits and two letters at the end. The two letters indicated if the man was regular army/ part time or a national serviceman. As example permanent force regulars all had PE at the end of the number. National service men had BG at the end. There are a number of these codes. When I get back to my home computer will look for more info.

It looks South African to me.

Thank you very much for the information. South African issue makes sense as many Rhodesians moved to South Africa after Independence. Is it possible to give a rough issue date from the service number?