I have one with a tag and want to know how to contact the original troop. Can you guide me in this effort? Thanks, GG
What do you do now that you have found a little plastic tag with a bunch of numbers and German writing on it under your butt plate? If you want to try and make contact with the previous owner......
1. Determine the individuals name. The last name is most often listed first, then the first name. Vorname=Last name
2. Determine the street name. They usually end in "str." Strasse=Street but not always.
3. Determine the town/city name and Canton (district in Switzerland abbreviated by 2 letters).
4. Now go to
www.tel.search.ch for the Swiss phone book and type in your info. Hit "suchen" and hopefully you will get a list of names. You can send a cover letter to all the names listed and hope to get a reply from the "correct" name. It costs about .85 cents postage per letter.
Most of the Swiss speak German and many speak English so write your letter in English. If the previous owner can't speak English odds are he knows someone who can.
There are often other things on the tag. The soldiers age, company and battalion, division etc. Ask him about those in your letter. A photo or copy of the tag and rifle will immediately let the gentleman know what this strange letter from the USA is about whether he speaks English or not.
If you get a letter back and it's in German you can find many online translators with a google search.
Thats about it and good luck.
How to read the tag:
http://www.swissrifles.com/sr/tags/A good translator:
http://www.systransoft.com/index.html
