1942 Carved Token Half Dollar - Casablanca Jack Pershing Compson - Any info?

InGodWeTrustCoins

Does anyone know what this is? It's carved into a 1942 Walking Half.

JBK

It's a sailor's souvenir or makeshift ID tag. All the info there is, is right there. Not sure what the date represents - maybe it's the date he deployed to Morocco.

Edit: the date - November 8, 1942 - was the start of the Battle of Casablanca.

"Casablanca" is the city, "F M" presumably means French Morocco.

You have his name, ID#, blood type, and service branch.

yosclimber

[from familysearch.org, a free site for genealogy; requires a free registration to use]
Yes, with a fairly unique name like that, it is not hard to find info for him.
He was born in Ohio, died in Vancouver, WA.
The token suggests he was in the U.S. Navy in Casablanca. [edited after reading @JBK's post]
He had two children (one passed away in 2024), and several grandchildren.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/147462199/jack-p-compson

For his middle name Pershing, and his birth year 1918,
you may know that General John J. Pershing was the leader of the US forces in WW I,
which ended in 1918.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Pershing

MrBluster

Dog tags

JBK

From the Google:

Dolores Compson (born Grannan) was born in 1920 in Ohio.

Dolores married Jack Pershing Compson in 1950, at age 29 in Ohio. Jack was born in 1918 in Ohio. They had 2 children: Kim Compson and one other child.

Dolores passed away in 2005, at age 85 in Washington. Dolores passed away in 2005, at age 85. She was buried in Mother Joseph Catholic Cemetery, Vancouver, Washington, United States.

JBK

https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explore/photography/wwii/wwii-north-africa-campaign/naval-battle-of-casablanca.html

1942: November 8-16: Naval Battle of Casablanca

On November 8, 1942, the Vichy French force, commanded by Rear Admiral Gervais de Lafonde made a valiant attempt to stop Task Force 34 troopship landings at Casablanca.

The French surrendered on November 11. (On that date, Germany U-boats arrived and carried on the battle until Novenber 16).

CaptHenway

I think that date is 1942, with the 2 rather poorly carved so that it looks like a 1

JBK

Here's some trivia as told to us kids years ago by my grandfather, who was in the Army in Casablanca during WWII before moving on to Italy....

"Casablanca" translates to "White House", which was a reference to houses of white prostitution.

I've never had a need to fact-check it, since it came from my grandfather.

InGodWeTrustCoins

Thank you guys very much! That is pretty cool. I wish it could have stayed in his family!

JBK

@InGodWeTrustCoins said:
Thank you guys very much! That is pretty cool. I wish it could have stayed in his family!

I agree, but the reality is that someone in his family likely sold it off or abandoned/discarded it.

I'm not sure how long you've had it, but as mentioned above, one of his children passed away last year. Maybe their family got rid of it.

The best you can do is to document and preserve it since it is a very historical artifact.

DCW

Nice piece. Has its own story to tell, quickly uncovered by some forum investigators!
Love stuff like this.
Maybe post it on the military tokens thread? Not a token, but it is very interesting to us former military guys.

privatecoin

Most definitely preserve it. very cool.