Our first case in 2012 to find family of an American soldier! Wayne wrote to Olive Tree Genealogy with this story of finding a soldier's dog tag in France
My daughter was walking on the beach near Nice, France and found a WW II dog tag with the name of Arthur Cohen. The tag is very beat up and about 1/3 of it is broken off and missing. There is a partial service number ending 181206 and blood type A.
From what we can ell, there were two Arthur Cohens from that region who
enlisted at about the same time, one was born in 1913 and the other in
1921. They were both single when they enlisted. I have found from NARA records available online that the Arthur Cohen we are looking for was born in 1913. Service #31181206.
So far we have found out that Arthur enlisted in Providence, Rhode Island in 1942. That's all we know. Any idea of where to go from here? If it would be of any sentimental or historical value to his descendants we would be happy to correspond and send it to them.
This is Case #12 and I hope my readers will respond with their usual enthusiasm and great sleuthing skills. Let's send another dog tag home to family.
9 comments:
I found this Arthur Cohen serial number on Fold 3 - Here is a link that shows the same serial number.
http://www.fold3.com/page/85613298_arthur_cohen/
Two possibilities in SSDI
1. First Name: Arthur
Middle Name:
Last Name: Cohen
Name Suffix:
Birth Date: 5 September 1913
Social Security Number: 038-07-6306
Place of Issuance: Rhode Island
Last Residence:
Zip Code of Last Residence:
Death Date: July 1972
Estimated Age at Death: 59
2.
First Name: Arthur
Middle Name:
Last Name: Cohen
Name Suffix:
Birth Date: 8 May 1913
Social Security Number: 054-03-5648
Place of Issuance: New York
Last Residence:
Zip Code of Last Residence:
Death Date: December 1972
Estimated Age at Death: 59
It appears that #1 could be our guy. Birth date matches with 1935 Providence RI Census.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-11582-17464-21?cc=1529126
California Death Index
Last Name First Name Middle Birth Date Mother Maiden Father Last Sex Birth Place Death Place Residence Death Date SSN Age Post-ems Order
Record
COHEN ARTHUR 09/05/1913 M RHODE ISLAND ALAMEDA(60) 07/06/1972 038-07-6308 58 yrs
Name: Arthur Cohen
Event: Death
Event Date: 06 Jul 1972
Event Place: Alameda, California, United States
Birth Date: 05 Sep 1913
Birthplace: Rhode Island
Gender: Male
Father:
Mother:
Another suggestion I have would be to contact some Rhode Island Genealogical Societies to see if anyone in the area would be able to do some legwork and look into local records and news articles. Also, the Rhode Island Chapter of Gold Star Mothers may have records of him. They've helped me in the past and they have very good records. They had articles about my MIA cousin and his family that I had never found previously, as well as pictures in the file that his mother had compiled while she was a Gold Star Mother. His military records would have his actual birth date listed, which would make it possible to find his SSDI info, which would possibly lead to an obit. His name is so common and I found so many Arthur Cohens born in Rhode Island the same year who had moved to other states at some point in time, so it's extremely difficult to narrow down, like a needle in a haystack without that exact date of birth. I wish you a lot of luck and please don't hesitate to ask if there's anything else I can do.
Good News! Arthur's only relative, a nephew was located through this website and the diligent efforts of Francesca at Angelo's Angels WWII Dog Tag Return Project. www.ww2tags.org I contacted him and he was very appreciative of everyone's efforts and is looking forward to receiving Arthur's dogtags. Thanks everyone.
Did these tags get returned? Just curious since it is still listed as open.
hi Becky
The case is solved and is marked as such on the Soldier's Items Found at http://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.ca/p/soldiers-dog-tags-cases.html
Thanks for all your help!
Lorine
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