US WWII ID Bracelet, Dunham, USNR, Doctor, USS O'Bannon, Guadalcanal

Original era manufacture. Navy pattern identity tag with a finger print reverse, worn as a bracelet by Lt. JG, Malcolm M.Dunham, who served as medical officer aboard DD-450, USS O'Bannon during WWII. The USS O'Bannon was the US Navy's most decorated destroyer of WWII; earning 17 Battle Stars and a Presidential Unit Citation. During his service aboard O'Bannon, thedestroyer was engaged during the ferocious surface battles off of Guadalcanal in November 1943; where O'Bannon, USS Sterret & Laffeyengaged at point blank range the IJN Battleship Hiei. Dunham was posted ashore in late 1943, serving the remainder of the war at the Naval Hospital at New Caledonia. Nicknamed the 'Lucky O', none of her crew were ever awarded a Purple Heart. 'The history of the Pacific war can never be written without telling the story of the U.S.S. O'Bannon. Time after time the O'Bannon and her gallant little sisters were called upon to turn back the enemy. They never disappointed me.' Admiral William Halsey