Students' Bodies Tattooed By Schools

[rambone]

My dad and his brothers grew up in Gary, Indiana, back in the 1950s. For those of you who don't know, the city used to be a great place to live and one of the nicest towns in the state, maybe the country.

Anyways, he told me that back then, kids that went to the local public schools in Gary often had their blood-type tattooed by the school on the side of their abdomen, near their waist. He and his brothers did not have this done to them since they went to private school, not public.

They first noticed other kids had the tattoo when they graduated onto public high school, and had swimming class with them. Swimming class, oddly enough, was conducted naked in the Gary school systems in the 50's. Boys and girls were separated, but both were completely naked, no bathing suits. Yes, this is in high school. I know, weird stuff...

...So back on subject, the tattoo was small, and read "O+", "A+", "B-", "AB+" etc. Pretty small, but still....

I am not aware if parents had to give consent for the tattoos. It was done sometime in grade school as a medical precaution. The country was quite a different place back then. I'm don't think I agree with this practice back then or today.

Anybody ever hear of this? Old enough to remember? How would you react if they proposed this today?

 

[printcraft]

Weird, I don't see a need for anything of that type.


"Maybe" for a soldier (i know dog tags) but still they are going
into harms way. Not school kids.....

What am I missing?

 

[Blue Tile Spook]

More info here:

CONELRAD: Atomic Secrets | Atomic Tattoo

 

[iamaclone45]

Wow, had never heard of this. Kind of creepy really.

 

[Blaze261]

Reminds me of some kind of x files episode. Wonder what other strange happenings like this have happenedd in the past.

 

[mrjarrell]

Didn't know that it was done in the states, but it was pretty common in Nazi Germany for SS soldiers to have it done.

 

[SC_Shooter]

Strange indeed. The country certainly WAS a very different place back then. Some of the changes have been good ones (like not having children tattooed in school) and some really haven't.

 

[rambone]

I find myself asking lately, who really won the Cold War?

 

[homeless]

I know a couple of guys who have "Meat Tags" usually they are inside the elbows and two guys I know also have the info on their left collar bone. Most of them just have blood type, one guy also has "Diabetic" and another buddy has his name and blood type on his chest.

These guys did it of their own choice, all but one either are or were in the military. I can not imagine anyone forcing that on someone it is very dystopian.

 

[jedi]

Hum... Not sure what you guys think is creepy about this. Actually I do see the benefit of this. Put yourself in the shoes of this nation back in the Cold War when they though that the Russians were going to nuke us any second now. What a great idea to have everyone's blood type on their person in a place that is most likely to survive (thanks to studies done by some other group *cough* SS NAZI *cough* which learned it from a real life situtation) so that you can administer the correct blood or ask/take the correct blood from people to ensure that your population can survive after an explosion. Recall the survivors are not going to have files with them (paper burns), computer are still a thing of the future.

Now fast forward to today. Okay the majority of us are not concerned with a nuke going off. But there are a lot on this board and elsewhere with STHF thoughs or US Civil War 2 coming or even a massive EMP blast sending us to the stone age. Hackers have testified to congress that 12 mins is all that is needed to bring the internet down. I6BO will soon have power to turn off the net, etc.. Point is we live in a digital age yet it's a very, very fragile digital age. How many of you (young ones 30 under, or your kids) can live without 1 day of the net, a computer, a cellphone or cable TV? Heck I go thru withdrawals when I don't have my net!

Would it not be a great idea to have your medical info (blood type) tatooed on you in case the SHTF, etc.. occurs? I carry my medical card (red cross) on me along with my donor card but if my wallet is lost or I die in an accident and my wallet flies out the window then what?

Just some food for thought... =P

 

[MoTown]

Can't say I have ever heard of anything like that before..

 

[Scutter01]

Would it not be a great idea to have your medical info (blood type) tatooed on you in case the SHTF, etc.. occurs? I carry my medical card (red cross) on me along with my donor card but if my wallet is lost or I die in an accident and my wallet flies out the window then what?

Katrina victims were advised to write their name and SSN on their torso with a Sharpie.

 

[Jubbie]

Around mid-August my mom & sister came up for my sister's baby shower. I was the only male, but it was only family so it was nice to visit everyone. Anyways, turns out my mom and her 2 sisters have the blood type tattoo. Apparently everyone who went to St. Paul's Elementary in Hammond or wherever it was originally got the tattoo. One aunt went to the class reunion a couple months prior and everyone was comparing who much their tattoo has faded. My sister and I quickly jumped in to say they had no reason to not like us having a tattoo since they have one.

 

[jedi]

Katrina victims were advised to write their name and SSN on their torso with a Sharpie.

Too abd that all the standig water around a dead body makes the sharpie in go bye-bye.. =)

 

[cubsfan1984]

They did that quite a bit here in Northwest Indiana, mainly Hammond, Gary, and East Chicago. I remember my mom telling me about it when I was a kid.

 

[Disposable Heart]

I would go get one, not a terrible idea, but it is a voluntary situation. The story seems to have the kids doing it b/c the school wanted them to. Not cool.

Heck, if I had my way, my back would have literally a wiring diagram of where each nerve and blood passage ran with identifying tags to what each was. If I got hurt, the paramedics would know exactly was was wrong!

 

[Jubbie]

I think it had to do with war time and blood supplies. Now I'm gonna have to google it.


Elsevier

 

[1032JBT]

From the times I have been in that area it might be able to be compared to a soldier going to war. I know not all areas are like that but still.......just sayin.

On a serious note though, I could see people, know people, and have thought about it myself doing this voluntarily.........but not as a forced deal and not to school aged kids.

 

[rambone]

That link says that only 3 counties in the USA did the tattoos. Crazy.

 

[FordMan08]

Wow, its really hard to believe, I really cant imagine it.......Gary was nice?