February 1917 - Identity Disc

Before burial Athol's identity disc would have been recovered. This was returned to his next of kin (his mother) following normal army procedure.  The disc is a single aluminium tag which was usually worn on a chain around the neck.

Stamped on the disc are the soldier's Service Number (619), name (Adams A. G.), unit (5th Australian Infantry) and religion (Church of England).

At some stage, Adah had a jeweller make a gold case for the disc. It is kept in a little envelope which sets out the disc's journey after Athol's death. First it passed to his mother who later passed it to her sister, Marion Boothby (referred to in Athol's correspondence as Aunt May). May left it to her niece, Alison Hay, and later Alison gave it to her brother Harold Adams on 1 July 1959.

In the United States these discs are called dog tags. They were never referred to this way in the AIF.