My dad's ex-wife's dad was an Army cook in WW2, but not sure if he was deployed in the field at all.

I was still fairly young when he passed away, never really got a chance to ask him about it.

If I recall, my father got a Thanksgiving meal with turkey and all the trimmings in Nov. of 1950 while at a place up in the mountains of North Korea... then a few days later it got cold and crowded..... seems something like 100,000 Chinese decided they wanted some of that...

quote:

Originally posted by low8option:
... He said they always knew when the Americans were going to attack because they were always served hot chow the morning of the attack.

Gulf War '91 - we knew the attack into Iraq (24th ID) was about to happen when the cooks showed up in our assembly area with hamburgers for everybody. We'd been eating 3 MRE's a day for months until then. And they didn't come with heater packs back then, those arrived separately and became prime barter for trading.

I was an Army cook from 1991 to 1995 and can attest to the HUGE morale impact of good, hot chow.

I spent time in the field and nothing is better than getting a hot meal of real food instead of MRE's or stuff like that.

What's hilarious is we were STILL using most of that equipment in the 90's when I was in; the M-2 Burners, the field stoves, those immersion heaters etc! We had Mobile Kitchen Trailers though (MKT's) instead of a tent, but all that gear was virtually the same.

The M-2 burners always made me nervous as they were pressurized gasoline and I figured if one of them decided to blow up one day with me near, I was fucked but they were quite reliable.

Mt Dad seldom talked about his time in the Pacific in WW2. He did mention though what a difference hot coffee and anything other than a K ration, made to the Marines.

He actually liked SOS over toast and would make it occasionally. Same for Spam.

Yeah, you know when you get a hot meal, the shit is about to hit the fan.

quote:

Originally posted by FN in MT:
Mt Dad seldom talked about his time in the Pacific in WW2. He did mention though what a difference hot coffee and anything other than a K ration, made to the Marines.

He actually liked SOS over toast and would make it occasionally. Same for Spam.

Yeah, my dad was the same way. He was in teh Air Force in the 1950s and I suppose that's where he developed his tatse for creamed chipped beef on toast, otherwise known as SOS. He would make it three of four times a year.

And for anyone who doesn't know, 'SOS' stands for 'shit on a shingle', although mom forbade such talk at the dinner table.

That ham mixed with hominy looked good.

This stuff looks like the same equipment my mess section used back in 1983-84.

Thanks for the post.

My step dad would always like SOS.
He was in WW II

Seeing the equipment and support equipment required to make a meal in the field reminds me how much goes into a military operation beyond the actual combat needs.
My dad was also in the Pacific but they didn't get much in the way of real food until they were rotated out of the combat area. These would have been utilized a lot more in the European Theater due to terrain and conditions. The Pacific was a challenge just to keep ammunition, clothing and boots on their feet.
Many of the Japanese were incapacitated by the lack of these basic supplies much less any sort of food, warm or otherwise.
Good to see this video so people like me that haven't been there can see and appreciate the efforts required of behind the front lines.

The only negative thing I remember about eating via Field Kitchen is that you really have to try to make an effort to get to the head of the line or thereabouts.
You see, they have three 50 gallon drums heated to boiling with heaters. As the chow line progresses you walk along with your mess kit, knife, spoon, and folk hanging by the handle. You dunk your assembled mess gear into the first boiling vat and swish it around. Walk further and dunk it into a cold vat. Next is another boiling vat. The changes it temperature is supposed to help kill germs.
Well, the further back in line you are, the colder the hot vats become. Pretty soon the whole thing is a mute point.
So, my advise is to either eat early, or eat late after the drums are heated up again.

Just sayin'.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

Originally posted by FN in MT:
Mt Dad seldom talked about his time in the Pacific in WW2. He did mention though what a difference hot coffee and anything other than a K ration, made to the Marines.

He actually liked SOS over toast and would make it occasionally. Same for Spam.

Yeah, my dad was the same way. He was in teh Air Force in the 1950s and I suppose that's where he developed his tatse for creamed chipped beef on toast, otherwise known as SOS. He would make it three of four times a year.

And for anyone who doesn't know, 'SOS' stands for 'shit on a shingle', although mom forbade such talk at the dinner table.

SOS was still standard fare in some Air Force dining halls into the 90's. Don't know if it still is, the food service has improved a lot over the years

quote:

Originally posted by HayesGreener:


SOS was still standard fare in some Air Force dining halls into the 90's. Don't know if it still is, the food service has improved a lot over the years

I made it every morning in the Army from 91-95, it was standard for breakfast menus along with bacon and sausage. If you didn't make it, there would be lots of pissed off Soldiers.

The US military stopped using dried/chipped beef though somewhere along the way and switched to ground beef for it. The official Army recipe referred to it as "Creamed Beef" but everyone still called it SOS.

Here's the official US Army recipe right from the Army Quartermaster Corps, I would add some powdered beef base and extra Worcestershire sauce too which improved it a lot:

CREAMED GROUND BEEF

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
I ate Spam sandwiches as a kid when Dad was out of work. I have eaten MREs and they are better. Never tried C rations. I could see how that would be a morale booster though.

I still eat fried Spam sandwiches. I slice it abouot 1/8" thick and fry it in a cast iron skillet. I put 3 slabs on toasted bread with yellow mustard. Yum!

Field Kitchens still exist. Our Tacctical Air Command mobile radar units all have them, and they are capable of preparing some very fine hot meals. Not haute cuisine, mind you, but very tasty and filling. There are some photos of one in action during an exercise at this link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/...s/72157629736031916/ (about midway).

SOS is a very hearty, filling food and makes a good basis for breakfast. The troops at Mt. Hebo AFS, Oregon in the 1960s loved it. As the (extra duty) Food Service Officer I had to eat at least one meal a week in the Dining Hall, so I also ate my share of SOS. It's good! (I lived in the BOQ atop the mountain, so I ate most of my meals up there, anyway.)

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by USMCE4retired:
The only negative thing I remember about eating via Field Kitchen is that you really have to try to make an effort to get to the head of the line or thereabouts.
You see, they have three 50 gallon drums heated to boiling with heaters. As the chow line progresses you walk along with your mess kit, knife, spoon, and folk hanging by the handle. You dunk your assembled mess gear into the first boiling vat and swish it around. Walk further and dunk it into a cold vat. Next is another boiling vat. The changes it temperature is supposed to help kill germs.
Well, the further back in line you are, the colder the hot vats become. Pretty soon the whole thing is a mute point.
So, my advise is to either eat early, or eat late after the drums are heated up again.

Just sayin'.

The first hot vat has soap and other things in it to wash and disinfect. The other 2 vats are rinses--the last one is hot so the water evaporates quickly.

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:


Field Kitchens still exist. Our Tacctical Air Command mobile radar units all have them, and they are capable of preparing some very fine hot meals.

I see lots of familiar gear in those photos, including the "Squarehead" which was perfect for making stews and roasting meats in as well as deep-frying:



I was in the field in Germany and decided to make donuts one night and ran two of those squareheads filled with melted vegetable shortening all night cranking out donuts which the troops got at breakfast the next morning. The problem is, then they expected them EVERY day after that!

I do remember the first vat having disinfectant and probably soap in a heated drum.
The next one was cold, and the last hot again. Yes.

Still sometimes after the laast drum the utensils come out looking far worse than when you started.

Sorry if I veer off topic but this thread reminded me of someone...

An employee of my dads served in the WWII island campaigns including Okinawa, as a radio man. He never said much about his service but he did say he went without food for days once except for a rat or two.
I bet a field Kitchen would have looked good to him then!

He did not tell it, but a close friend of his told me he was wounded and left for dead for a while until they realized he might actually live. Back home all stiff legged, he could barely walk, and it was very difficult to understand his speech but my Dad hired him and he showed up for work every day at 7 AM on my dads construction sites until well in his 60's.

I guess I was just young and dumb back then but I still feel like a shit bag now for never even thanking him for his service.

Korea, 1958. Powdered milk, powdered eggs and cold C rations for us. The cans of C rations could be heated on the intake manifold of the 6x6 trucks we drove.

Poor but acceptable food for us, but a real delight for the Koreans in tiny villages we stopped in.