Any Veteran of Korea will quickly recognize these cans. Yummy C-Rations.
The ones Ken ate were packaged in 1948...
The C-Rations consisted of old food eaten cold. Ken said they would use C4 explosive to heat them up. (If you ignited the C4 it would burn and not explode)
A few other things he mentioned: His favorites were the beans and wieners,
Chicken and noodles, and fruit cocktail.
He craved fruit and was always thrilled to find the ones that had fruit in them.
They also came with a small package (4) of cigarettes and sometimes a little package of toilet paper. His least favorite was the Beef and Potatoes. He said it had a really thick coat of yellow fat on top of it, and even with heating it just tasted old and nasty. Ken also mentioned that the C4 came from Claymores he broke apart so all his guys could heat their meals.
Now on to the story...
The Special Meal...
After setting a record for the longest time a unit had been in the field (126 days) the Top Dogs thought that the guys deserved a treat. The unit had also found one of the largest ammo caches so they really deserved a big treat. The news came down that they were to get a hot meal trucked in for them to enjoy.
The guys were all beside themselves. Those C-rations from the 40's and 50’s were not the most desirable. Ken imagined steaming hot turkey, Roast Beef, or Baked ham. Hot gravy and mashed potatoes, bread, and dare he think it, pie and maybe even some glasses of Ice cold milk.
The time came and they all stood in line about to die from the sheer anticipation of the perfect dinner. Ken could barely stand it. All he could think about was his mama's homemade rolls dripping in butter; and her cornbread dressing. He had been day dreaming about mounds of mashed potatoes and rivers of Hot Brown gravy. He could eat a mountain of that dressing and those mashed potatoes and rolls right now.
Finally it was time to get in line. But wait, where was the smell of turkey, Beef, or ham wafting on the air, hmm maybe the jungle stink had clogged his nose up... The guys in front of him were all whooping and hollering so it was better then he thought. By this time he was drooling.
Finally It was his turn. HEY WAIT A MINUTE... that's not turkey, Beef or ham... it was LOBSTER.
Now yes, most of the guys were ecstatic... NOT my Ken. He hates lobster. He gave his tray to a buddy, went to his pack and got out some good old C-rations and dreamed of mama's cornbread, a big pan of Baked Ham, mounds of mashed potatoes and rivers of gravy. Ice cold glasses of Milk and platters full of mama’s apple pie.
** a side note. Ken dreamed of milk. Good cold milk. When he finally got on board the plane in Vietnam heading for the states the bottles of beer and liquor flowed. When the stewardess asked Ken what he would like to drink he told her Milk. He drank glass after glass of it.
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