Author: Jessica A. Bandel
The identification and diagnosis of battlefield casualties was one of the most significant responsibilities that fell to the men who served in the Medical Department. Armed with the diagnosis tag book shown at right, medical department personnel took to the field to identify and diagnose a battle’s wounded and dead. Each tag sheet carried the following information: date, hour, and station where tagged; soldier’s name; rank and regiment or corps; diagnosis; and finally, treatment.
Once completed, the tag was affixed to the clothing of the affected soldier. The primary function of the tag was to inform medical officers at aid stations and hospitals of the diagnoses and the types of treatments wounded soldiers had already received.
If a soldier was found deceased, it was the responsibility of the attending medical official to take down the soldier’s identification, just as he would for a wounded man, and also make a note that the soldier was no longer living. Why diagnose the dead? Because on the battlefield, every second is crucial to the survivability of wounded soldiers. Tagging the dead in this manner informed succeeding medical personnel that the deceased was not in need of medical care, allowing medics to quickly move on to the next patient.
All tags, whether for the wounded or the dead, eventually made their way back to senior officers who used the information they contained to make notes on the statuses of individual soldiers and to recalculate unit strength.
Want to learn a little more about medical regulations during World War I? You should check out the 1917 Manual for the Medical Department, United States Army. (Follow the link to a digitized version.)