My Thanks to Bob Gould for being a 'Bower Bird' and his wife Patricia
for having her finger on the pulse
In the RAN we
all reckoned we didn't need ID Cards and Official Numbers because
everyone knew each other. Perhaps that's why we had ID Cards like
this.
This ID Card was
phased out in the late seventies and early eighties. This piece of
light cardboard was kept in a plastic wallet, open at one end and
was certainly not waterproof. Actually it wasn't anything proof! Consequently
some sailors went through heaps of them. When one was buggered you
just went straight up to the ships office and got the Writer to write
up another. Bring your own photo!
In 1974 my mate
AB Weapons Mechanic Tony Newlands removed the official photo from
his ID Card, which was permitted to be black and white only, and replaced
it with his own colour photo of him with his head down, asleep in
a very large beer stein in Japan. He maintained this for nearly a
year until at last an observant British Army Red Cap in Hong Kong
finally took a close look at it after arresting him in Wanchai one
night. Remarkable, considering every 2nd Thursday (pay day) one had
to step forward and salute the payment witnessing officer with the
right hand, hold your ID card up to his face with the left, and recite
the last three numbers of your official number. An entourage of 'crushers'
(Naval Police) would always be there too. So thats how much attention
people pay to ID cards.
For sheer convenience
it was great. You could alter name, rank, photo, birthdate at will,
all you needed was an eraser and ball point pen. Bob's card above
is a perfect example of a do-it-yourself. card, and this was certainly
more the norm than anything else.
The Marines and
US Armed Forces Police never ceased to be amazed at the insecure,
'basicness' of them and placed no credence upon them whatsoever.
I admit I did
get caught altering the date on mine on one occasion when I was seventeen
so as to enable me to gain entry into licensed establishments where
the legal age was 18. I was 'trooped' of course
Another rare find
by Patricia is Bob's Official RAN Dog Tag. These were made from some
type of compressed fibre (similar to what they made cheap suitcases
out of in the 50's) and were supposed to be fire and waterproof. They
weren't any of these things! Least of all 'Sailor Proof". It
was a good thing the wearing of these was never insisted upon, as
a matter of a fact no one ever mentioned it again from after the first
day of issue, also good. For most of us, like me, immediately upon
issue put a match to it to test it out. It failed and ended up in
the gashbin. Never a dull day in 'The Puss'.
