A photograph in uniform, three fingerprints, and a signature — the wallet ID that placed Constantine on a troopship one day later. Constantine’s US Army Signal Corps identification card, issued September 4, 1943 — five months after he was commissioned at the Medical Field Service School in Carlisle Barracks, and one day before he sailed for the European Theater of Operations. The card carries:
- Photograph of Constantine in uniform (27 years old)
- Right thumb, index, and middle finger fingerprints
- Rank: 1st Lieutenant, Medical Corps
- Birth date: June 21, 1916 (US-records date, which differs by six days from the Greek primary record’s June 15)
- Eyes: Brown
- Height: 5’9”
- Signature: C.L. Jeannopoulos
Timeline placement
This is the earliest photographic record of Constantine in the family archive that has been published — taken in his late-twenties as a newly commissioned Medical Corps officer immediately before his ETO deployment. The card’s September 4, 1943 issuance date sits on the threshold of his three-year wartime service:
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| April 7, 1943 | Entered active duty |
| April 12 – May 20, 1943 | Medical Field Service School, Carlisle Barracks, PA (Twenty-Sixth Officers’ Course) |
| July 12, 1943 | Notice of Change of Address — assigned to 304th Station Hospital, APO 4716 |
| September 4, 1943 | ★ Signal Corps ID card issued (this document) |
| September 5, 1943 | Departed for ETO |
| December 1, 1943 | Promoted to Captain, Medical Corps |
| September 1943 – January 1946 | 2 years 4 months in EAME theater (304th Station Hospital + 4-month attachment to Patton’s Third Army HQ medical dispensaries) |
| January 5, 1946 | Returned to US |
| March 20, 1946 | Honorably discharged at Fort Dix |
About the height discrepancy
The Signal Corps ID records Constantine’s height as 5’9”. The 1946 separation duplicate records 5’11”. The 1947 US Certificate of Citizenship records 5’10½”. The three values are consistent with normal measurement variance — Constantine was a 5’9”–5’11” man, with the operational record settling around 5’10½”.
