C-rations ( The Meal, Combat, Individual ), ... TO&E official

[MORTARDUDE]

http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-food/c-rations.htm

"The Meal, Combat, Individual, is designed for issue as the tactical situation dictates, either in individual units as a meal or in multiples of three as a complete ration. Its characteristics emphasize utility, flexibility of use, and more variety of food components than were included in the Ration, Combat, Individual (C Ration) which it replaces. Twelve different menus are included in the specification.
Each menu contains: one canned meat item; one canned fruit, bread or dessert item;
one B unit; an accessory packet containing cigarettes, matches, chewing gum, toilet paper, coffee, cream, sugar, and salt; and a spoon. Four can openers are provided in each case of 12 meals. Although the meat item can be eaten cold, it is more palatable when heated.

Each complete meal contains approximately 1200 calories. The daily ration of 3 meals provides approximately 3600 calories."


B-1 Units
Meat Choices (in small cans):
Beef Steak
Ham and Eggs, Chopped
Ham Slices
Turkey Loaf
Fruit:
Applesauce
Fruit Cocktail
Peaches
Pears
Crackers (7)
Peanut Butter
Candy Disc, Chocolate
Solid Chocolate
Cream
Coconut
Accessory Pack*
B-2 Units
Meat Choices (in larger cans):
Beans and Wieners
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Beefsteak, Potatoes and Gravy
Ham and Lima Beans
Meatballs and Beans
Crackers (4)
Cheese Spread, Processed
Caraway
Pimento
Fruit Cake
Pecan Roll
Pound Cake
Accessory Pack* B-3 Units
Meat Choices (in small cans):
Boned Chicken
Chicken and Noodles
Meat Loaf
Spiced Beef
Bread, White
Cookies (4)
Cocoa Beverage Powder
Jam
Apple
Berry
Grape
Mixed Fruit
Strawberry
Accessory Pack*

*Accessory Pack

Spoon, Plastic
Salt
Pepper
Coffee, Instant
Sugar
Creamer, Non-dairy
Gum, 2 Chicklets
Cigarettes, 4 smokes/pack
Winston
Marlboro
Salem
Pall Mall
Camel
Chesterfield
Kent
Lucky Strike
Kool
Matches, Moisture Resistant
Toilet Paper
FOX HOLE DINNER FOR TWO
(Turkey & Chicken Poulette)

1 can chicken and noodles
1 can turkey loaf, cut up into pieces
1 can cheese spread
12 spoons milk
Crackers from one C-Ration can, crumbled
Salt & pepper to taste
2 spoons butter or oil or fat-
2 spoons flour
3 dashes TABASCO

Melt butter oil or fat, add flour and stir until
smooth. Add milk and continue to cook until cheese melts and sauce is even. Empty cans of turkey loaf and chicken noodles into cheese sauce.
Season with TABASCO, salt & pepper to taste and continue cooking. Cover poulette with crumbled crackers and serve piping hot.


The Folding Can Opener

The P38

Story by Maj. Renita Foster

It was developed in just 30 days in the summer of 1942 by the Subsistence Research Laboratory in Chicago. And never in its 52-year history has it been known to break, rust, need sharpening or polishing. Perhaps that is why many soldiers, past and present, regard the P-38 C-ration can opener as the Army's best invention.

C-rations have long since been replaced with the more convenient Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), but the fame of the P-38 persists, thanks to the many uses stemming from the unique blend of ingenuity and creativity all soldiers seem to have.

"The P-38 is one of those tools you keep and never want to get rid of," said Sgt. Scott Kiraly, a military policeman. "I've had my P-38 since joining the Army 11 years ago and kept it because I can use it as a screwdriver, knife, anything."

The most vital use of the P-38, however, is the very mission it was designed for, said Fort Monmouth, N.J., garrison commander Col. Paul Baerman. "When we had C-rations, the P-38 was your access to food; that made it the hierarchy of needs," Baerman said. "Then soldiers discovered it was an extremely simple, lightweight, multipurpose tool. I think in warfare, the simpler something is and the easier access it has, the more you're going to use it. The P-38 had all of those things going for it."

The tool acquired its name from the 38 punctures required to open a C-ration can, and from the boast that it performed with the speed of the World War II P-38 fighter plane.

"Soldiers just took to the P-38 naturally," said World War II veteran John Bandola. "It was our means for eating 90 percent of the time, but we also used it for cleaning boots and fingernails, as a screwdriver, you name it. We all carried it on our dog tags or key rings." When Bandola attached his first and only P-38 to his key ring a half century ago, it accompanied him to Anzio, Salerno and through northern Italy. It was with him when World War II ended, and it's with him now. "This P-38 is a symbol of my life then," said Bandola. "The Army, the training, my fellow soldiers, all the times we shared during a world war."

Sgt. Ted Paquet, swing shift supervisor in the Fort Monmouth Provost Marshal's Office, was a 17-year-old seaman serving aboard the amphibious assault ship USS New Orleans during the Vietnam war when he got his first P-38. The ship's mission was to transport Marines off the coast of Da Nang.

On occasional evenings, Marines gathered near Paquet's duty position on the fantail for simple pleasures like "Cokes, cigarettes, conversation and C-rations." It was during one of these nightly sessions that Paquet came in contact with the P-38, or "John Wayne" as it's referred to in the Navy.

Paquet still carries his P-38, and he still finds it useful. While driving with his older brother, Paul, their car's carburettor began to have problems. "There were no tools in the car and, almost simultaneously, both of us reached for P-38s attached to our key rings," Paquet said with a grin. "We used my P-38 to adjust the flow valve, the car worked perfectly, and we went on our merry way."

Paquet's P-38 is in a special box with his dog tags, a .50-caliber round from the ship he served on, his Vietnam Service Medal, South Vietnamese money and a surrender leaflet from Operation Desert Storm provided by a nephew. "It will probably be on my dresser until the day I die," Paquet said.

The feelings veterans have for the P-38 aren't hard to understand, according to 1st Sgt. Steve Wilson of the Chaplain Centre and School at Fort Monmouth. "When you hang on to something for 26 years," he said, "it's very hard to give it up. That's why people keep their P-38 just like they do their dog tags.... It means a lot. It's become part of you. You remember field problems, jumping at 3 a.m. and moving out. A P-38 has you reliving all the adventures that came with soldiering in the armed forces. Yes, the P-38 opened cans, but it did much more. Any soldier will tell you that."

Courtesy of Soldier's Online

How to make a C-Ration Stove

The small cans included in the meal were ideal for making a stove. Using a "John Wayne" pierce a series of closely spaced holes around the top and bottom rims of the can. This stove was satisfactory, but did not allow enough oxygen to enter which caused incomplete burning of the blue Trioxin heat tablet, causing fumes which irritated the eyes and respiratory tract. A whole heat tab had to be used.
A better stove was created by simply using the can opener end of a "church key" (a flat metal device designed to open soft drink and beer containers with a bottle opener on one end and can opener on the other commonly used before the invention of the pull tab and screw-off bottle top) to puncture triangular holes around the top and bottom rims of the can which resulted in a hotter fire and much less fumes. With this type of stove only half a Trioxin heat tab was needed to heat the meal and then the other half could be used to heat water for coffee or cocoa. A small chunk of C-4 explosive could also be substituted for the Trioxin tablet for faster heating. It would burn hotter and was much better for heating water.
.
A stove was usually carried in the back pack or cargo pocket and used repeatedly until the metal began to fail.

Australian troops were always issued with hexamine stoves and so did not have to create this type.

[Packo]

Mine rides with St. Michael on my key ring. Has since 1968. Get great comments from today's servicepeople about it. They all ask to see my "original John Wayne".

Loved the pound cake.
By the way, where was the Pork Slices and Juices?
Not necessarily my favorite but remember getting stuck with it early in combat.


Packo

[SEATJERKER]

...was all he said...

...went into basic with mine, my Uncle gave it to me before I went in, and still have it on the key ring, but upon arrival at basic, and as they removed all personal's, my TI noticed mine, and said he'd have to place it with my "personal's" as it was considered a deadly weapon...

...some snickered, and just about all but doubted him, but me, I knew what it was, and how many usages it could actually have...

...with a grip of thumb, and finger, he displayed a grasp in which it was shown to be held in a manner of which substantial damage could be done....

...got it back two weeks later when I left basic, and will always have it close by...

...

[Andy]

I still don't leave the house without my St. Christopher, a p-38 and a hand cuff key.
Jam, why do I not remember getting jam in my Rats???
Did I ever tell you I went three straight days getting nothing but Kent cigarettes? For a Marlboro smoker it was like a curse.
Thanks Mortardude, you reminded me of all the "trading" that went on with some old friends.

Stay healthy,
Andy

[phuloi]

I had lots of friends..Liked the ham & mothers,I did.Three days of Kents-YUK.If I was going to be kind enough to take your ham&mf,I had to get your Luckys too,or no deal.

[VIETNAM 1968]

After reading the entries on C-Rations, and the P-38 Can Openers that were needed to open the cans, I just had to add my recollections. I had almost forgotten what it was like to eat those individual meals until these posts brought those memories flooding back to me.

I got my first P-38 shortly after I arrived in Vietnam. Being stationed at Cam Ranh Bay, we were much more fortunate then others as we had access to Chow Halls and Hot Chow every day. I worked in Fuels Supply and I spent my entire shift on the Flight Line refueling Aircraft. Our duty day lasted a minimum of twelve hours and very frequently went on longer then that.

For those reasons, we frequently did not get a chance to eat in the Chow Hall so C-Rations were passed out and we ate while working. I used to keep a P-38 on my key ring, along with my dog tags, and used it to open countless cans.

That same P-38 lasted all through my Tour Of Duty and I proudly kept it on my key ring, even after being released from Active Duty in 1970. I continued to use that same P-38 for everything from opening cans, to filling in as a screwdriver, until the end that contained a punched out hole finally ripped apart and the P-38 could no longer be attached to my key ring. I still have that original P-38 and keep it with other mementos of my days on Active Duty and Vietnam. It is a prized possession that I would never consider giving up.

After the first P-38 wore out, I then located a replacement at a local Army and Navy Store. That replacement is now attached to my key ring but it does not hold the memories that my first little P-38 did. I still would never consider leaving home without it however.

My favorite meal was Franks and Beans. The one meal I could never bring myself to eat was Ham and Lima Beans. No matter what you did with Ham and Lima Beans, it still tasted terrible and I usually threw that can away without even opening it.

I used to enjoy the canned fruit and Sliced Pears were my favorite. I liked the Peaches, Fruit Cocktail, and Apricots also. Other cans contained Pound Cake and I used to save the canned fruit and pour it over the Pound Cake to make a really tasty treat.

I never smoked so I would save the Cigarettes and frequently gave them to others that did. Sometimes if that other person had canned fruit, pound cake, or Franks and Beans, I would trade the cigarettes for the desired treats that person happened to have.

Well as Bob Hope used to say: Thanks for the Memories. It is funny how such a small piece of metal, such as the P-38, could be responsible for bringing back such a flood of long forgotten memories.

To all my Vietnam Veteran Brothers and Sisters I state again:

WELCOME HOME

VIETNAM 1968

[bbeil]

Well guy's all this talk has had me sitting on the pot for an hour and my stomach is still growling just from thinking about the sausage patties in water and the stew in a can. We had the left over WWll c-rats(3 a day's in the shoe box) in Korea,some were getting pretty old but the preservative in it kept it eatable. The smokes were lucky strikes, chesterfield,phillip morris, and camels .