Dog Tag, C Battery, 184th AAA Gn Bn
Identified to Roy V. Cocke #33536118
WW2 Monel alloy Dog Tag, second type November 1941 – July 1943. The early types were made of Monel and could accommodate 5 lines of text, with 18 spaces per line (ref. Cir # 151, AR 600-40, WD, Dec. 12, 1940). Steel and stainless steel were also in use.
The official Dog Tag required the following information:
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first line: first name of soldier, second initial, surname
second line: second line: army serial number, tetanus immunization, tetanus toxoid, blood type
third line: name next of kin
fourth line: address, number, street, next of kin
fifth line: address, city, state + religion
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T/5 Roy V. Cocke
T/5
Roy V. Cocke
T/5 Roy V. Cocke
Roy Vernon Cocke was born on April 22, 1923, in Goode, Virginia, to Carrie Noell (1896-1991) and Roy W. Cocke (1895-1974). He had one brother and four sisters.
Roy V. Cocke was drafted on March 19, 1943 in Roanoke Virginia. He served for three years, two of which were spent in Europe with C Battery, 184th AAA Gun Battalion, part of Antwerp X.
On November 9, 1944, the battalion moved into its positions wich had been reconnoitered the previous day. These positions were all near the small village of Pulderbos (Zandhoven), approximately fourteen miles due east of the center of Antwerp and directly in one of the paths followed by the V-1's launched from Germany. To meet this defense problem the battery sites were in a straight line, perpendicular to the course of the Buzz Bombs, approximately 1000 yards apart. With the arrival in this area, the 184th was relieved from attachment for operations to the IX Air Defense Command and attached operationally to the 21st Army Group directly under Antwerp X, commanded by General Clare Armstrong, which controlled all the AA battalions defending the vital port of Antwerp
On December 21, 1944, the battalion moved by motor convoy to Namur, Belgium, for the AA Defense of vital auto and railroad bridges across the Meusse River, with a secondary Anti-tank mission.
After a journey of 91 miles on January 4, 1945 from Namur, the battalion arrived in Meer, Belgium, close to the Durch border and approximately thirty miles northeast of the center of Antwerp. Hq Battery used the Town Hall for its officers and billeted the men and remaining officers in houses and tents in the village.
Roy V. Cocke died on March 21, 1946, in an Ashville Hospital, North Carolina, following an illness of Tuberculosis, far advenced chronic pneumonia.