Military nurse identity tags, 1944-47

Identity tags of Anne Graham, from Motherwell, from her time in the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve 1944-1947.

Identity tags have been issued to British military personnel since before the First World War in the event that they were killed and their body needed identifying. They were made out of pressed fibres and in the event of death, the circular tag would be removed from the body and the octagonal tag left for identification purposes. They included the person's name and initial, as well as their faith ('C/S' in Anne's case denoting Church of Scotland) as well as their service number underneath.

Anne 'Nan' Graham (later Millar) served in the Q.A.s from 1944-47. She was one of the first nurses ashore after D-Day and served in Normandy in 1944; Eindhoven 1944-45; Trondheim 1945; Oswestry; Marlborough and Cairo in 1945. Suez 1945-46, Cairo, Athens and Salonica in 1946 and returning by ship from Athens in 1946-47. She was featured in contemporary newsreels and is featured in 'Motherwell at War' p68. She formerly lived in Draffen Street, Motherwell.