All the time that I spent in the Army during WW2, I never had a complaint about the food. America had the best fed Army in the world. Even in combat we were fed decent food. C Rations consisted of 12 oz Olive Drab colored cans of, Corned beef hash, Hot Dog slices and beans, Stew and biscuits, powdered coffee, four Cigarettes. And Gum. Later on we started to get, Spaghetti and meat balls, and potted meat. K Rations were a Pack of waxed cardboard box in which there was a small block of cheese,and crackers. more potted meat, chocolate bar, gum and cigarettes , powdered lemonade powder .. No one complained. Field kitchens gave us fresh coffee, powdered eggs, spam, and dehydrated vegetables, fresh white bread ans sometime a piece of cake. To heat our C rations we were issued a can of Sterno. It looked like melted wax???? But It did the job.:BewareSpam:
That is a really amazing ration package, definietly one of the better ones I've heard of coming out of the war. For many commonwealth soldiers at least, they had to be introduced to a new diet, definietly not good for morale in a sense but times were tough.
I always found that the rations we had in the RAAF and Australian army in the late 70s and 80s were also really not a bad feed ,I lot of people complained that tasted all the same But i certainly never had a problem with ration packs in the army there were 5 if i remember correctly and enjoyed them as much as you can a tin food diet .They must have tasted ok because at end of the 80s you found it very hard to get any if you were going camping etc .Then you could not get any at all unless you were on a army or airforce field trip going out bush training Cheers Tony
One reason why,is America was not going though a war that ration there food intake. Meaning the American soldiers had a better choice of food during the war, probelary would have benifit some British and commonwealth soldiers that actually serve with American soldiers during ww2 though. I am not 100% sure on this,i was not around in those days,just watch some programs before hand.
Heidi; During WW2 America was, and still is the bread basket of the world.In the States there were no bombs. Life pretty well remained normal. But most of the food was sent to feed our troops. The UK did not have that security.. Food among other things were scarce. America shipped a lot of food over along with War materials under the Lend Lease act. The Brits had a scarsity of food, but no one starved. When ever we came in contact with the Brits we gave them a lot of our field rations.. They loved them.. They ate a lot of Bully Beef. ( YUCK)
Basically,i was right with my post? That's my point,America had better rations caused America was not being bomb and never had derect war on American land. That's a bonus for the Allies,least one allied country had great food. The Brits must have been pretty desprete for food if they ate Yuck food,lol.
Since soldiers were eating better then civilians "back home", was there ever a feeling of "remorse" for lack of a better term among soldiers knowing they were eating better then family back home? Were rations ever saved and sent back home to families?
My Grandfather's battery got so fed up with bully beef in North Africa they used the crates to build up the sand bag walls round the gunpits. The brit rations were probably not so good, but they had tea and thats what mattered!
I would think this is the cause. British imports of food were cut down to the minium,caused of the U-boat threat. Of cause the brits would not have the best rations,but with American involment,i would think the food rations for british was alot better in late 1942 onwards compared to 1939-1942.
