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Artifacts

Identification Dog Tag

Artifact Details

A dog tag with the name "Sala Dasanada", an ID number, and the word "Buddhist" engraved on it.

This dog tag belonged to Sala Dasanada, a Thai national who was working on his doctorate degree at Cornell University when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He volunteered with the Royal Thai Legation for combat duty but was turned down. So he completed his studies and then joined the Free Thai Movement in October 1943. Over the next few months he received extensive training from the OSS in guerrilla warfare, explosive ordnance, radios, and parachuting. Then he and his fellow volunteers travelled 62 days by boat back to Asia, and from Kunming, China, he helped maintain radio contact with the Free Thai’s covert station in Bangkok.

He later infiltrated into Thailand in May 1945 as a passenger onboard a seaplane that flew just 50 feet above the water to avoid radar detection. They made a water landing near the southeast coast of Thailand, where a boat met them and brought them ashore. His primary duties there were observing and reporting the locations of Japanese troop concentrations and prison camps of Allied personnel. Former OSS Director General Donovan presented him with the Medal of Freedom in a ceremony at the Pentagon in 1947.

Artifact Specs

7.7 cm x 12.6 cm x 0.5 cm each

(L x W x H)

Additional Photos

A close-up of the metal dog tag.

Learn More

Patch of the Free Thai