Mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph..

Mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.

Beverly Hills American Legion Post 237 member Carolyn Mills uses a World War II-era dog tag-making machine Tuesday morning inside a portable trailer where she has made thousands of the specialty tags over the years. The machine was one of many used during World War II to make authentic tags troops wore into combat.

Over the past 17-years, Carolyn Mills has made thousands of specialty dog tags for veterans, children and service dogs.

Several specialty dog tags hang in the portable trailer where Carolyn Mills works from at the Beverly Hills American Legion Post 237.

Carolyn Mills works from this small, portable trailer producing specialty dog tags.

Beverly Hills American Legion Post 237 member Carolyn Mills uses a World War II-era dog tag-making machine Tuesday morning inside a portable trailer where she has made thousands of the specialty tags over the years. The machine was one of many used during World War II to make authentic tags troops wore into combat.

Over the past 17-years, Carolyn Mills has made thousands of specialty dog tags for veterans, children and service dogs.

Several specialty dog tags hang in the portable trailer where Carolyn Mills works from at the Beverly Hills American Legion Post 237.

Carolyn Mills works from this small, portable trailer producing specialty dog tags.

Carolyn Mills makes the dog tags and her husband, Claude, provides the lore.

“See this notch?” he says, holding a metal tag that has a semi-circle “bite” taken out of it.

Then he tells the story of its supposed purpose during World War II:

Every soldier was issued two metal dog tags, one with a notch in it.

If you were killed in action, the notched end of the tag was placed between your front teeth and another soldier kicked your jaw to wedge it into place so it wouldn’t get lost when your body was taken to the morgue.

“That’s how they identified you,” Claude Mills explains.

The couple, married 65 years, have been making military-style dog tags for veterans, first responders, service dogs, pets, and the general public for about 17 years, using a vintage World War II-era Graphotype machine made by the Addressograph Multigraph Corporation in Cleveland, Ohio.

“We took it to the (Traveling) Vietnam Memorial Wall a couple years ago in Red Level and made over 2,000 dog tags there,” Mrs. Mills said.

She sells them for $5 each, with the money going to the American Legion Post 237 in Beverly Hills where the Millses are members.

The machine came from the Yankee Air Force Museum in Michigan. They learned about it after they moved to Citrus Springs from Michigan in 1989 and joined the Yankee Air Force at the Dunnellon airport. The YAF unit has since disbanded.

The Graphotype machine weighs 400 pounds, and it cost the YAF a dollar a pound — $400, which covered the shipping cost.

“I didn’t do the dog tags at first,” Mrs. Mills said. “I was the coordinator for bringing in the Collings Foundation World War II bomber planes for the fly-ins.”

But then she learned and discovered she liked it and was quite good at it.

Once the YAF disbanded, the Millses joined the American Legion post in Floral City and brought the dog tag machine with them.

By this time, they had it installed in a mobile trailer so they could take it to events, including the monthly veterans yard sale at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Inverness.

“We go where the veterans will be,” Mr. Mills said. “We like talking to people. For example, if there’s a guy who looks like he’s a veteran, I’ll say, ‘Still got your dog tags?’ And then we’ll start talking. There’s a lot of emotion tied to military dog tags.”

Mills, 93, joined the Army Air Corps in January 1944 at age 18 and served as a pilot at the end of World War II.

“I was still in flight school when they dropped the bomb on Hiroshima,” he said.

As for the notch on the dog tags being used to fit into a deceased soldier’s teeth, that’s a myth, according to the rumor-busting website, Snopes.com.

Getting its information from Mortuary Affairs, the section of the U.S. Army that overseas duties related to fallen service members, “no official record of American soldiers being issued these instructions exists; the only purpose of the notch was to hold the blank tag in place on the embossing machine.”

What is true, however, is that military members wear two identical tags with the following information: last name followed by first and/or middle initials, service number, branch of service, blood type and religion (if desired).

“One is on a shorter chain than the other,” Mills said.

Upon the death of the wearer, one tag goes to Mortuary Affairs and the other stays with the deceased for identification purposes.

For those interested in having dog tags made, call the American Legion Post 237 at 352- 897-4776 and leave a message for Carolyn Mills.

Contact Chronicle reporter Nancy Kennedy at 352-564-2927 or nkennedy@chronicleonline.com.

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