Can someone help me find where this Dog Tag should go?
Someone found a dog tag at a flea market or something of that nature in Michigan, and would like to get it back to whoever it belonged to. I know we have some amateur historians, anyway you could help?
This is what the dogtag reads:
CLIFFORD
GEORGE
SUMMERFIELD
946-97-91
USNR-B
T-3-45-P
Category: Politics
TSO…from my grandfathers navy tags, I know that the T indicates a tetanus shot, and the month and year he received it ( mar 1945 according to your pic) the B is blood type.
The rest is Greek to me…
From what I’ve just read that USNR-B is US Naval Reserve and there have been other codes like P for Protestant. so B=Baptist?
T-3/4-O = Tetanus Shot in February 1945, Blood Type is Type P or just protestant again because there’s no Blood type P
Doc probably has it right, blood type B and the P is Protestant?
P may be protestant….it would have covered all Christian religious affiliations aside from Catholic….at the time (1945) I don’t think they broke it down further into Baptist, Lutheran, Episcopal, etc….but my naval history is rusty, I only know what was passed onto from my father and Grandfather.
maybe one of the Navy folks here can answer better than I can.
Mine says protestant as well, they didn’t break it down in 1959…but this is way before that….
1930 census shows a Clifford G. Summerfield in Calhoun County, MI. Year of birth listed as 1908.
No listing for the 1940 census. In the service?
SSDI says a Clifford Summerfield passed in 1970 in Jackson County, MI.
For what it’s worth I’ve got the same guy (died Jackson, MI 1970, age 62) but his middle initial was “S”. Could be a typo or other input error, of course. His DOB is also a bit off- July 13, 1907. Census errors from that time period are far from perfect.
Many times year of birth was calculated based on the year of Census and subtracting the person’s age. Census also reports YOB as year only (at least one Census included the Month). But is the person’s info was reported by someone other than the person listed, it could be way off (people living in rooming houses being one example – landlord would be interviewed and give info on all tenants who might be at work when the census taker came by).
.
The SSDI usually lists an accurate date of birth.
Date of death was 5/14/1970.
Date of birth was 13 July 1907.
1930 census shows him living in Marshall, Calhoun County, MI., part of the Battle Creek metro area.
He might have been married to Adeline Summerfield, 1910-2006.
Her maiden name may have been “Carney.” Sturgis, Michigan.
This link to Find-a-Grave gives a memorial page for Adeline Summerfield. The woman listed as the page’s creator may well be kin.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=173557520
Scratch that. Looks like the woman is just a major contributor to the site. She may be able to provide more info, though.
Nice research efforts Gentlemen!
Doc….you’re right on the money! No other (most, anyway) website with the kind of commenters we have herein would even give a damn.
God Bless you all!
B is the command grouping of USNR that inducted the individual and P is the religion. P, C or H were the only religion choices in WW2.
Sorry. No, I am wrong B is the blood type with the dash indicating negative.
The myheritage website lists only one Clifford Summerfield with middle initial G. I’ve cut and pasted it, but it’s clearly missing info.
“Clifford G Summerfield was born circa 1908, at birth place, Michigan, to George Summerfield and Kathleen Summerfield.
Clifford had 6 siblings: Murval J Summerfield, Alfred W Summerfield and 4 other siblings.
Clifford lived in 1930, at address, Michigan.”
946-97-91 I beleive this would have been his service number.
Mr. Summerfield was called up by his Draft Board and was sent to Chicago, IL around 1 February 1945 for induction in the Armed Forces.
He served in the US Navy as a S2c on the U.S.S. Drew (APA-162) around 22 August-1 November 1945.
His first wife was Adelia R. Summerford, who he married in September 1925. She divorced him in April 1927. They had no children.
On 18 March, 1933, he married Grace C. Dowding Hess. She was previously married to Milo H. Hess in November 1929. They had two children: Arthur E. and Dorothy E. Hess. Milo and Grace divorced on 13 March 1933 (not a typo).
He remarried in 1947 to a Hilda G. Favorite in Arkansas. They both resided in Jackson, MI at the time of their marriage. His previous resident was Marshall, MI.
Hilda passed away in Jackson, MI in 1966.
In the 1950s, he was a Guard at the Michigan State Prison.
So far, discovered his brothers Gerald and Allen also served in the US Navy during WWII and his brother Murvel served in the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.
Lots of blood relatives to track down-hope to find an answer so you can return the Dog Tag.
Salute. That is A-1 work.
*HIGH FIVE*!!!
What he said.
Great work, Pat.
Thank you all for the compliment. It was TAH teamwork.
TSO: Am finishing with Mr. Summerfield’s bloodline, with hopes of providing you via Jonn a relative’s phone/address.
So, now the next question is, is there any next-of-kin that this could be passed on to. Children, g’children, nieces, nephews…….
Or yeah, what he said.
My hats off to all here, for the concern and initiative to get a vets dog tags back to the family…..says volumes about the quality of this blog!
All that is truly amazing work. Seriously, makes me happy knowing people are looking. Anyone have any advice on which of the various threads to pull? If nothing else, I’ll find a home of honor for it, but if we could find someone in the extended family either serving or who served, I’m guessing they would treasure it.
Another thought is that perhaps it belongs with whoever has his burial flag, if he had one.
There would be a VA form 27-2008 or previous on file with the funeral director.
I continue to be in awe of the people on this site.
If there ever was a better testament to the brotherhood of Veterans, I can think of none other than TAH for the shining star of that brotherhood.
Combat or peacetime, we all share it and jealously guard it as is witnessed by so many of the DRG klownes…
In other words, don’t fuck with us…
On 1 Feb 45 “The Battle Creek Enquirer” published an article about 17 draft registrants being sent to Chicago for induction into the armed forces. Clifford G. Summerfield was included.
Well it seems that Mr. Summerfield had a bit of a temper. An article in “The Battle Creek Enquirer” published 23 Aug 32 told of an altercation. “Clifford Summerfield of Marshall got in a fight with Milo Hess on South Eagle street Saturday night, and was lodged in jail for the weekend. He pleaded guilty to a disorderly charge before Justice Bossard Monday morning and was fined @10, costs of $4.50 and 30 days in jail. The jail sentence was suspended for one year”
A fistfight with the (soon-to-be?) ex of his wife, Grace? The plot thickens.
Good grief! When I check back tomorrow I’ll probably find someone has posted the results of Summerfield’s last colonoscopy…
It appears his last “scope” was cancelled due to a scheduling error at the VA facility in Ann Arbor.