My grandfather served in the liberation of France. One day when i was a young kid i asked him "did you ever kill anyone" he went silent looked me deep in the eyes and said " probably i was the cook"
My dad decided he wanted to stay in the Army after WW2 but didn't want to be shot at anymore so he became a cook, He spent the Korean war in warm tent with food. He was also a very good cook, man he could make buttermilk biscuits that where like eating a tasty cloud. I miss him.
My grandfather was an army cook in the last American cavalry unit still mounted on horses in the 1930s. He was a widower w/ little kids and a little on the old side when WW2 began. He was a fantastic cook the rest of his life. Thankfully he taught my mom, one of his daughters-in-law, a lot of his recipes and techniques. We ate like champs as kids. RIP Grandpa.
My Uncle Roy was also in the horse cavalry in 1930's, in the P.I. He got out of the army joined the navy and was killed Jan 10, 1943, aboard the submarine USS Argonaut. I was named for him.
"If the cook is good, you'll have a moment of heaven in the middle of hell. If the cook is bad, you'll have something better to complain about than getting shot at." My great-grampa said that... rest in peace, grampa martin...
I’d have to agree. Even as a WW1 reenactor that is the most looked forward to thing at supper and breakfast. Nothing pissed us off more when the brits fucked us over and wouldn’t let us eat and the Germans knew it as well every time they try to pull out unit off the line to get some food they’d screw us over and attack or send some stupid ass little raiding detachment over to keep us there longer.
One of the reasons why Motti Tactics were so effective was because the Fins often operated behind enemy lines, ambushing Soviet field kitchens and supply depots that were least-defended, and contributed in demoralizing and isolating Soviet forces further.
I've only had limited military experience (5 months in basic + couple of exercises), but everytime we had hot food served out in the field (especially if the weather was miserable) it just made people smile and more happy. During one slightly more high profile training exercise with foreign military attaches visiting they even served up some BBQ for us!
Times have changed very little. An Army still travels on it's stomach. I remember breakfast out of Mermite cans (in the 80's and 90's) and C's/MRE's the rest of the day. When we had a good field kitchen with a good NCO in charge, the chow could be worth writing home about! I remember getting field chow in W Germany; creamy potatoes, pork chops that were juicy. The Mess Sgt had just come up from Italy. HE never served a bad meal! My hats off to all the cooks that worked so hard to feed us grunts in the field. Thank you!
frequentfiler yep! I remember dipping my mess kit (with a 1945 date stamp on it!) Into the immersion cans on an ftx in '90, and wondering "what the hell good is this?", because the water was so filmy. It beat getting MREs, thought, especially the dreaded pork patty.
That was very interesting. This is a part of warfare that NEVER gets shown or talked about, and is just as important as a combat units fighting capabilities and composition. Until I saw this video, I'd never even thought about it. Thanks for sharing.
Agreed - hardly ever thought about it (I think the only field kitchen I've ever seen on screen may have been the one on MASH). This video was very informative and the food actually looked pretty darn good!
I was an Army cook in Vietnam. This is exactly the same setup that we had. Those field stoves and immersion heaters were as dangerous as the enemy. They were known to explode on occasion. One cook that I worked with was trying to light an immersion heater, and it wouldn't light . He leaned over to look down into it and BOOM! it blew his helmet about 30 feet into the air, and singed off his eyebrows. We all laughed so hard that it hurt.
I remember being out on patrol for several days just eating our C-rats and while we were heading back to the company position we ran across a field kitchen down in a shallow depression. I ordered my guys to fall into the end of the chow line and we ended up eating chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes, gravy and fresh vegetables. Best meal ever. The mess sergeant looked at us kind of funny because we were so dirty but didn't say anything. You don't know what a great morale booster that was for my team. Those guys cooking and preparing food in the field should be highly respected.
@@Roger-rh5lu you understand that feeding the troops is extremely important right? The Germans had men feeding the troops too. Your grandpa would have been totally fine with it.
@@Roger-rh5lu women’s work? Look around at the restaurants near you. How many male cooks? How many female cooks? Cooking for a family is one thing, even if it’s a big family. This is cooking for a 150-200 at a time. It’s logistics, pure and simple. Knowing what you had told you what you could prepare and you had to prepare it quickly.
@haters are dead and I feel great oh, I'm not sure how someone misunderstood but my point was that I really liked this video and was left wanting more quality content
The unseen logistics of war. Most people don't realize how big a part logistics plays in war, or how many non combat personnel it takes to support them. Imagine all that food, for all those soldiers had to come all the way from the US.
Î always try to explain it like this, you've got a tank with four crewman, these crewman need food, so you need a cook to prepare meals, the cook needs a truck for his field kitchen and supplies, the tank needs fuel, so you need a guy with a truck loaded with fuel, the tank needs ammunition, so next guy next truck. All these guys need medical care, next guys next truck. All these trucks need mechanics too, all these trucks need fuel too, all these guys also need food too, and all of them have a military record and want to get their pay om time. All this for 4 guys and a tank, speaking oversimplified.
@@cdev2117 Pretty good summary of it. You should also mention all the people needed to track this stuff and move it around. What these four guys need, how much of it, and where. To track where that stuff is while it's moving (and who is carrying what, where) so they can make sure it actually gets to them. More trucks, more fuel, more guys.
And the guys who make out the pay checks, their clothing, even toilet paper.. all that stuff had to come across on ships, and those ships required all that stuff all over again, etc etc etc......like I said originally, logistics is what runs and army. How they fight and use it is another story of course, but to maintain what ever the do choose to do with it, takes a huge amount of effort.
Even more baffling was for me that the term supply line/supply chain is not a figurative term. Not long ago I red an article on the operations of Habsburg imperial troops against ottomans in Hungary. They had an endless chain of wagons coming after the army just 10-15 000 men strong, unloading supply and immediately turning back for more. It is estimated that without this chain of wagons the army would disband in 3 days due to lack of supply. It was truly enlightening.
My father was a T-4 corporal army field cook in the Philippines in 1945. He passed away when I was 9 and never talked about his war experiences. Thank you for this video, for giving me a glimpse of what his service involved.
The fact that the US could do all that shows how insane the American war economy was during WW2. We could ship food thousands of miles then heat it up on site with gasoline powered stoves. The second is more shocking, given the Axis issues with oil during the war.
Pressure pump stoves for kerosene & petrol have been in use since the early 1900s. In fact, the Americans invented a portable pressure pump stove that could run on gasoline, naptha, kerosene, or diesel. It was no bigger than 2 stacked tin cans. The technology is still used today in some hiking/camping stoves, with a few modifications.
WWII will always be the most fascinating time in history for me. The sheer scale of the war and technology difference was huge. From an infantryman with a rifle to a high-altitude bomber with electric-powered turrets, radar, and advanced bomb-sights. Yet, even a squad of well-trained men could fight off greater technologies to a certain extent.
The USA had a highly mechanised force in WWII, the Germans were still largely foot and using horse drawn carriages with only enough trucks and halftracks for tactical manoeuvre. And chronically short of fuel, the Americans using gas for their field stoves and water heaters would have been unthinkable for them.
Try working a 2 watch in a USMC messhall in the '80s! You'd work lunch, dinner day 1... day 2, breakfast, lunch, dinner... day 3, breakfast... 6 meals; you didn't get off until 1930-2000 that night! Man, that sucked!
@@ke6ziu ours was 0530-1900. Two days on two days off, every second weekend was a long weekend. It was good. A seven day fortnight, but you done two weeks work in those seven days.
I think they finally replace the gasoline powered stoves and immersion heaters some years back. The Army was moving to all Diesel fuel and they were trying to ease the logistics aspect.
My dad was a army mess sargent stationed in germany in the 80's and I remember them still using some of this stuff. Brings back good memories when I used to hang with him and had a blast watching all the behind the scenes stuff at his mess hall and nabbing yummy goodies the cooks would give me. I guess it was my fresh young tastebuds but I actually liked the rations dad would give me before he went out for field training with his company. I guess it was his way of comforting me while he was gone come to think of it. I miss him.
Best comment of them all, nice. Sounds like you had a wonderful dad I know mine was. He too he pasted in 2015. I can relate, it's not easy but I am so thankful for all the time he spent with me sooo many memories. Thanks Pop.
If you ever watch the film Zulu it features field kitchens near the beginning of the film: 24.50 ua-cam.com/video/62v94vnh8wo/v-deo.html That design of field cooker the last of the stock all met a watery grave they were onboard the SS Atlantic Conveyor en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Atlantic_Conveyor
I was an Air Force cop in Germany back in the 80s and some of the best chow I had was from an Army field kitchen. Of course being out in the field eating C-rats and MREs might have affected my judgement at the time
@@mikhailiagacesa3406 He's saying the cooks were able to get hot food to you often because the lack of communist air control meant they did not have the necessary intel to stop your cooks from making it out to you guys closer to the front...I think
Also keep in mind! During the liberation of France and the Netherlands during the summer, they would get fresh vegetables donated from farmers, now THAT must have been such a huge morale booster!
@@kevinpasion5281 We fed *their* troops, too. Kruschev said SPAM was the most valuable contribution of the US in the War. I'm not sure if he was mocking our boys or just pointing out how important supplies are. I'll give Nikki the benefit of the doubt.
@@kevinpasion5281 here is more information, it is without a doubt true that in world war 2 russian soliders were more often feed by foreign western armies than russians. The bad part about this is that this is why so many millions of brave russian solidrs that fought the germans into western europe were arrested and put into gulags. Stalin didnt want the armies to come back and tell of the "wonderful" life in the west. By wonderful, i simply mean they were feed and given basic human rights. The russain solider were arrested under article 58 in the criminal code, you can look it up. I cant remember the exact section inside the article that allowed for the arresting of soliders. This is not in any propaganda. You can look the freak code up yourself.
I was a Canadian Army reservist from 1979 until 1981. I remember the immersion heaters very well. On a chilly morning, the warm water was really appreciated as it made shaving and cleaning oneself much more comfortable.
I'd really love to have a good movie about the military support personnel. Cooks, Medicals, Mechanics, Ammo loaders, etc. We've already seen enough of the fighters and intelligence stuff, and not to discredit them of course.
Well, medics get some love sometimes (for instance that one pacifist guy who refused to kill anyone and instead dragged all of his allies into cover and patched them up), and mechanics maybe arguably (though it's most often just tankers fixing up their tank in the field more than the guys at the base), but you're right that in general more movies about different aspects of the war would be nice. Hell, even something about the homefront and the shift in the industry.
That would actually be an interesting show. In the right hands, it would be a good slice of life military drama about the people that do all the "Behind the Scenes" work in the military.
The cook is a role of real importance! Imagine not having a hot meal for a week and then having a real hot meal ! I say the cook as always been underrated!
I served in the US army as a cook in the 1980s. Our equipment was almost identical to what is shown in this video. In the field, my job included waking up at 4:00am, starting the generator and lighting the immersion heaters. I also fueled the stoves.
I remember being out in the field for weeks with nothing but MRE’s.... then returning to the field HQ and having a warm meal. Definitely a morale booster
It's funny but true. When one German Commander during at the Battle of the Bulge got his hands on an American Food ration and saw a chocolate bar inside, he knew that War is lost.
@@Romanov117 Pretty sure that by the battle of the bulge they knew the war was lost regardless of what Americans were eating. Though I'm sure it was one more nail in the coffin of any lingering delusions.
Having been in the Army for over 20 years its good to see people like yourselves keeping history alive and not just something to be read in a book. I think you guys are underestimated by many historians and academics.
In the Infantry we rarely got to eat near our battalion rear area. We usually had marmite hot chow brought to us in the field. The only time we had chow in tents was during REFORGER exercises after we moved off the field and vehicles washed, weapons and equipment cleaned. We were still issued the G.I. Mess Kits in the 1980s and through the mid 90s but hardly ever used them. Instead we ate out of paper plates like the guys from Vietnam and forward. The Canteen Cup was always used by most soldiers for coffee and making Ramen noodles out in the field or heating up MRE packets which worked well before MRE Heaters became available.
I had to learn some light infantry skills from The Army in 1991 (even though I was USAF!). Because we regularly did 18-20 hour days, we ate regularly from Mermites.
Yeah, right. Cuz' tushonka (canned meat), shi (vegetable soup with meat) and borstch are all Soviet propaganda. I bet you even consider the meals we got by Lend-Lease propaganda.
Terrific video. My father-in-law was a cook in the 3rd Army during WWII. Died in 2001 when our daughter was 2 and I just sent her this video so she would have a better idea of what her Grandpa did for his country during the war.
I remember eating the output of those kitchens in the Army. We were always grateful for a hot meal, so the food tasted wonderful. I suspect it was good even if we weren't hungry, tired and dirty!
I served as a US Army cook (94b) from 1985-1989 and much was still the same, In training we learned how to set up both the "m1948 kitchen tent" and the MKT or mobile kitchen trailer. We still used the m2 burner unit and the stove/oven pictured. In practice we used a deuce and half truck that was "built out" for a field kitchen and quarters.
We were using all of that same equipment in 1981, when I went to Food Service Specialist AIT in Ft. Dix and continued to use all of it in the Reserves out until at least 1986. They are probably still using it today. MO Gas, Immersion heaters, etc. all are great inventions.
Awesome...my grandfather served in the Pacific, and he told us stories of the difficulties in getting food and setting up the kitchens.When he was older he had gained weight, but he always laughed and said if we had starved like he did we’d be fat forty years later also! RIP Papa, Semper Fi!
Everyone thinks of the armaments in war but rarely do we think about the logistics if feeding an army on the move. Thank you for the interesting perspective.
Fun related story. I'm from a rural part of Belgium. My grandparents told me that , When the allied troops Secured our towns and the People could move freely, the soldiers would trade their Dried eggs and milk for fresh versions. They were super happy to be able to consume fresh Milk and eggs.
not surprised at all. even today dried and canned food gets very monotonous after awhile, and i can only imagine that in the 40's when the technology involved was a lot more primitive than today, those canned and dried foodstuffs were pretty bland. (and i doubt that the cooks had access to much in the way of seasoning beyond salt and pepper). so getting fresh anything would be a treat. and eggs and milk would be something they'd be able to trade for that didn't put the locals too much at a disadvantage. (after all, the chickens will be laying more eggs in a couple days and cows can be milked again.) i'd imagine the troop's preserved food items were in demand too since they'd keep and would give those families supplies for leaner times such as winter.
@@glitterboy2098 I agree with why the troops wanted to trade. Appearantly they were tired of the taste of dried foods. I think the locals were trading because they were amazed to see dried versions of the food, or to make the troops happy. The part were my grandparents lived was more rural, so there had never been a need for dried versions of the food.
Great job. This was filmed at Rockford, IL's Midway Village WWII Days re-enactment, one of our nation's largest. When WWII re-enacting began at Weldon Spring, MO, we had a WWII field stove that we used to cook our Sunday morning breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage. It warms my heart to see how far recreating WWII has improved since when I produced that first event in 1975.
This is what my grandfather did during the war in Northern France. Unfortunately he passed away before I was born, and never told really any stories. So thank you for the fascinating video for insight into what his kitchen and job looked like!
My uncles say the best meals they had in the war came out of those field kitchens. They fought under Gen Clark in Italy and Patton after the breakout from Normandy.
My grandfather was a cook in the army.. always talked about cooking eggs in the bottom of a 55 gallon drum.. now I know what he meant 😂 Great narrations and reenactment!
Fascinating (to me at least). This is part of the logistics story that rarely gets told. Lots of video about guns, bullets, grenades and shells. but not enough about how they got those war materials to the front line troops. Nutrition, communications, and intelligence are just as important as tactics and firefights. Good job. Please post more videos!
I was an army cook from 1985 to 1989 and we were still using the m2 burner unit, the 1939 stove and the emertion. Heaters but the mermite cans were rectangular and held 3 inserts
I experienced having eaten from different field kitchens, doing three different periods. Civil War, World War 1 and 2. There was a group called, "Combat Caterers". Very authentic, and tried to serve as period as possible. You guys looked great. It's, a subject, that gets overlooked, by a lot of historians, both from the modern military, and throughout history. There have been several books that touched on the subject. The most memorable one, was "Private", by an author, who was a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge, Lester Atwell. He writes, about the field kitchens and how they prepared the rations. Thanks again for an interesting video
There's an amazing book done by a Civil War veteran called 'Hardtack and Coffee' by John D. Billings. It's an excellent read about camp life during the Civil War, though it focuses mainly on the Army of the Potomac because it was the one that the author had served in. It goes into not just the food but also the patches and communications technology of the time, as well as several chapters about what camp life was actually like.
Great video. I worked field feeding for the Air Force and it's amazing how much things haven't really changed since WWII. The M1937 became the M-59 range, we used M-2 burners filled with 2.2 gallons of MOGAS which you couldn't fill all the way. You had to leave a little room for air and "burp" the heater before replacing the fuel cap. One important note: under no circumstances are two lit M-2 burners to be placed stacked together one on top of the other following an incident where personnel were seriously injured in an explosion. M-67 immersion heaters were used for our mess kit laundry operations and we conducted the feeding out of mobile kitchen trailers. During field training exercises, MRE's would be issued for the lunch meal and dinner would be at the MKT with "A" rations being served supplemented by breads, fruit, beverages, etc.
This was one of the best videos I have watched. We were still being fed like that in Germany when I served there in the Army back in 1987. One morning we were standing in the chow line in a blinding rain storm with water running off our steel pots right in to our food. Just like in the movies.
You cant find videos about this things out there. As a WW2 enthusiast, i will like to encorage you to make more of this videos. Bravo, and well done :)
Imagine being cold and miserable close to the front line and the field kitchen shows up and you have warm grub ready for you. It would lift spirits pretty high I reckon.
Great post; spot on, thanks. I spent a career in the Army 70s-90s: our field kitchens used the same equipment...it worked well and the food was great. The standard fare was "As" for morning and evening and "Cs" for lunch. If we weren't moving, "Cs" were often heated with immersion heaters. Immersion heaters were dangerous to light for the uninitiated...very easy to lose your eye lashes by seeing if the heater was working by looking down into it too soon.
To any military cooks reading this: Thanks for your service. You guys are highly important. Without you, those on the line would starve to death. Keep it up.
I have to say this is like the most interesting thing to me when comes to learning about WWII, like yes the battles are interesting but learning what the soldiers ate or what the did when not fighting or how they entertain each other is just maybe a bit more interesting. Kinda puts you in the shoes of a WWII solider as you imagine what it was like back then.
My grandfather joined the war, along with all of his brothers. But my grandfather was a peaceful man, still knowing he had to do his part he became a cook. He came home and raised a family, putting 4 kids through college and ensuring a 5th would be taken care of. He was the best man I have ever met, and i miss him every day still. Thank you.
i still have my military mess kits (3) and use them every day. i cook and eat out of it. one of those benefits of being single and 67 yrs old. i also use the U.S. dining ware too. very easy cleanup. old habits are hard to break.
it was actually a cat and not a rat....it really wasn't too bad. served with rice and vegetables in a pho broth...…I would like to never do that again...but that being said at the time it was delicious and hot……..miss nam, I would like to go back.……….@@philliplapkovitch311
This is so amazing! Especially when you consider that in spite of all of these logistical hurdles, the US military was the best fed force in the entire war.
The logistics for the war in incredible. Honestly, that is part of the reason we started doing a living history field kitchen. You don't win wars without logistics and manufacturing.
@@tabskitchen3283 I never considered it until I saw a video a about "tooth to tail." It's really fascinating though how the USA has managed to maintain a competent and well fed military no matter it has been deployed. It's truly an amazing feature of American productivity and adaptation to serve the needs of the military when deployed.
During my time in the British Army in the 1980s I well remember using petrol fuelled water heaters very similar to the ones shown here, if you got a good one that worked as they were meant to,they were brilliant, you could have a metal dustbin of water boiling in no time.If you got a bad one with a dodgy drip valve you ended up with one that would go out but would still have a considerable amount of unburnt petrol in the bottom of the burn chamber,it became a running joke to have the new guys light these particular heaters and then laugh like idiots when they lost their eyebrows to the column of roaring fire that would erupt out of them when they dropped a lit match into the burn chamber.Yeah I know, very childish,iresponsible and somewhat dangerous but most of us were barely out of our teens and at the time we all thought it was funny as fuck.
LMAO...Same experience with US Army, Germany in 80's. Had a guy in the platoon trying to light the submersible with the drip valve. Wouldn't light, kept dripping, put his head over the exhaust vent to look in...BOOM. Happened to be watching and about ready to warn him. He had hair bangs and glasses. Scared the crap out of him. Ran over to check him out...Face black from soot, eyebrows gone, what was left of his bangs curled up, and 2 white eye sockets from his glasses. The good ole days.
@@minuteman4199 never thought of just finding a stick, split one end and jam a wad of kerosene soaked rags in the split to use it as an improvised lighter device?
seeing that much stainless steel utensils, purpose built equipment, and "make it work" mentality makes me really really nostalgic for my boy scout days ^_^
A wonderful talk. These are the things most WW2 buffs don't think about. As a lifelong fascinated buff myself, I never thought about it. I'd love to experience this! It's just so interesting.
While in the Marine Corps in the 1980s, one of my additional duties was to sign for the Field Mess....so, I supervised inventory of the field mess "system" assigned to our unit. I think we took it to the field once and our assigned bakers and cooks used it for several days, preparing "two hots" for the Marines. A real novelty....this was as field messes were beginning to be phased out and better quality "Meal Ready to Eat" were being phased in with "tray-packs" and other alternatives to the field mess phenomena. Among Marine Corps occupational specialties, and even within the Combat Service Support "MOS'", there were many professions that did not get the credit they were due; in my opinion, while Motor Transport was unheralded, the profession of cooks and bakers was absolutely taken for granted. I cannot think of a more difficult job in the Marine Corps, in the post-Vietnam era, than that of Food Service.
Just remember, even though you are a cook, doesn't mean you can't end up on the front. :In the Battle of the Bulge, cooks and clerks were thrown into the line, and fought like tigers, and died like heroes. As the Marines say, "Every man is a rifleman!"
Greetings from Montréal, Québec, Canada !!! My Father was a WWII Veteran (Passed away in 1981 64 Yrs. old) He always changed the subject when I would ask questions about the war as a child, sooo I have access to so many videos on the Internet and Movies/TV Series that relate about it, it helps my comprehension of how it went !!! Thank you for your video, really appreciated it !!! Cheers !!!
Used the M37 with the NZ army in the 1980's. Great kit.Pretty much identical to whats shown here as well as the immersion heaters shown. But when learning you got used to losing facial hair...WHOOOMMMPPPFFF!!!
@@stevepercival4774 yes, called Uglies in my time. Jelleymeat Cat food was found to be more nutricious. Smells and flavours still strong in the memory....
Revisited this once more, since i recently got a printed copy of TM 10-412 out of curiosity after viewing other videos. Good meals with 4-5 ingredients, a bit bland for todays standard, but fills my stomach. Just have to say thanks for the references to other printed sources.
Great to see those reenactors that are apart of the 34th infantry! My dad served with the Red Bulls over seas so I have a special place for the Red Bulls. Unfortunately I'm medically unqualified to serve in the military, but if I could, I would love to serve with the Red Bulls. "Attack, Attack, Attack!"
American logistics and organisation won the war. Guns helped, but it was American's ability to literally crush Germany and Japan under the cogs of their massive industry which lead to victory. For every tank the Germans built, American factories cranked out dozens. Japanese troops were down to throwing rocks and charging with sharp sticks while surviving off hot water with a single noodle while the Americans had fleets of ships bringing in supplies. The level of organisation and coordination was absolutely staggering, considering that EVERYTHING had to be shipped over the Atlantic/Pacific.
@@TheGreatConqueror1 in their defense they pretty much did..the allies were at the verge of losing the battle had america not joined and tipped the scale in their favor.
Though this is true, the US had the luxury of not having their centres of industry under the threat of attack. And because America has all the natural resources that it would need in war, it also had the luxury of not having the need to secure raw materials from elsewhere. Logistics in war is always going to be difficult but not having to worry much about if your supplies are going to be made will always make it easier. Both pacific and Atlantic theatres never had risks of major bombing campaigns for the continental US.
I find your “hot water with a single noodle” disturbing! Okinawan Cave defenses were stock to the brim with supplies and so intricate that the biggest artillery guns can’t reach them. And the heavy monsoons make the battle worse for the Americans because the Japanese can sleep comfortably in their caves while Americans are soaking wet in a foxhole without sleep.
This reminded me the good ol' stories of chuckwagon, cookie, and it's band of cowboys. Back in 1800s, it was essential for a cattle drive company to have a good chuck wagon and a good cookie ( often retired grumpy cowhand). As the cowboys' morale pretty much depends on the hot meal at the end of the long hard day, and the overall success of the cattle run. I expect the military field kitchen and the cooks give the same vibe to the soldiers as well. Nothing beats a hot and well prepared meals to boost your morale during turbulent and difficult times.
My grandfather served in the liberation of France. One day when i was a young kid i asked him "did you ever kill anyone" he went silent looked me deep in the eyes and said " probably i was the cook"
Did he chuckle
Ah, feeding the soldiers to fight, correct.
Lmfao
"Death from within!"
Got nothing but love for the "cookie" One of the most important jobs in the Military. Right after Ordnanceman or course ;)
M9-37 Range Stove... even the cooking equipment sounded like a weapon
USA has M everything
The M is for luck
Luchis
“M” simply means “model number” or “model of”
@@johnborland4133 I know, its was a joke
@@johnborland4133 Sorry But, r/whoosh
My dad decided he wanted to stay in the Army after WW2 but didn't want to be shot at anymore so he became a cook, He spent the Korean war in warm tent with food. He was also a very good cook, man he could make buttermilk biscuits that where like eating a tasty cloud. I miss him.
😢😭I want that recipe
Awesomeness!
It's sounds like he was a great man, thanks for sharing
...you're not gonna start..like...crying are you?
I can't hug men.
I’m sorry for your loss but I thank him for his service
My grandfather was an army cook in the last American cavalry unit still mounted on horses in the 1930s. He was a widower w/ little kids and a little on the old side when WW2 began. He was a fantastic cook the rest of his life. Thankfully he taught my mom, one of his daughters-in-law, a lot of his recipes and techniques. We ate like champs as kids. RIP Grandpa.
Respect !
Oora
My Uncle Roy was also in the horse cavalry in 1930's, in the P.I. He got out of the army joined the navy and was killed Jan 10, 1943, aboard the submarine USS Argonaut. I was named for him.
@@imjusttoodissgusted5620 May he RIP.
My dads Grandpa was in that unit!
“Let’s get this onto a tray. Nice!”
Oh Steve.. Lol
I was hoping someone would say that
"Nice hiss" lol
"I can't believe that I'm eating this. OK, one more bite". 👍
"Alright, while that's doing it's thing, let's check out that instant coffee"
The field kitchen is in my opinion the single biggest morale booster.
Not having a hot meal during a war would definitely be demoralizing. Hot food to keep the men in check and keeps them fighting.
"If the cook is good, you'll have a moment of heaven in the middle of hell. If the cook is bad, you'll have something better to complain about than getting shot at."
My great-grampa said that... rest in peace, grampa martin...
I’d have to agree. Even as a WW1 reenactor that is the most looked forward to thing at supper and breakfast. Nothing pissed us off more when the brits fucked us over and wouldn’t let us eat and the Germans knew it as well every time they try to pull out unit off the line to get some food they’d screw us over and attack or send some stupid ass little raiding detachment over to keep us there longer.
One of the reasons why Motti Tactics were so effective was because the Fins often operated behind enemy lines, ambushing Soviet field kitchens and supply depots that were least-defended, and contributed in demoralizing and isolating Soviet forces further.
I've only had limited military experience (5 months in basic + couple of exercises), but everytime we had hot food served out in the field (especially if the weather was miserable) it just made people smile and more happy. During one slightly more high profile training exercise with foreign military attaches visiting they even served up some BBQ for us!
Times have changed very little. An Army still travels on it's stomach. I remember breakfast out of Mermite cans (in the 80's and 90's) and C's/MRE's the rest of the day. When we had a good field kitchen with a good NCO in charge, the chow could be worth writing home about! I remember getting field chow in W Germany; creamy potatoes, pork chops that were juicy. The Mess Sgt had just come up from Italy. HE never served a bad meal! My hats off to all the cooks that worked so hard to feed us grunts in the field. Thank you!
frequentfiler yep! I remember dipping my mess kit (with a 1945 date stamp on it!) Into the immersion cans on an ftx in '90, and wondering "what the hell good is this?", because the water was so filmy. It beat getting MREs, thought, especially the dreaded pork patty.
Yep.... same as my unit in 88
Nothing like eating green eggs, cold bacon or sausage patties, grits or hash browns, and crunchy biscuits in the rain.
Thank you all for your service and our freedom
@David Quintero doubt it
1944 western front: "Cornbeef hash or beef stew boys?"
1944 eastern front: "sawdust would hit the spot right now."
A girl making history references? WHAT
Oh America land of stupid. Yeah Russian didn’t eat anything at all. They just ate air and snow.
😱
Katie ...child of tv .
@@Hexrax an idiot making social commentary? WHAT
That was very interesting. This is a part of warfare that NEVER gets shown or talked about, and is just as important as a combat units fighting capabilities and composition. Until I saw this video, I'd never even thought about it. Thanks for sharing.
It's 90% Filipino and other second world citizens that U.S contractors hire that do the cooking down range now .
That is an interesting aspect. Were the Filipino contractors? Did they only participated in the pacific theater, or the European one as well?
@Roderick storey Steve will at least try anything that isn't fully rotten. The peanut butter cans he has opened have been seriously surprising.
@@j.h-j5j no, he's talking about current era since 1st Gulf War in 1991 and before in Bosnia.
Agreed - hardly ever thought about it (I think the only field kitchen I've ever seen on screen may have been the one on MASH). This video was very informative and the food actually looked pretty darn good!
"An army marches on its stomach."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
"Food is like war. You have to experience it for yourself."
- Hiroshi Sakurazaka
Well... One would hope to get to experience food for themselves, otherwise they'd die within days, possibly even hours after birth.
“HHHHRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH...”
-Russian Soldier’s Stomach
Napolean didn't actually say that
Indians: :(
Irish People: :(
In Soviet Union food is like dark comedy.....
not everybody gets it.
I was an Army cook in Vietnam. This is exactly the same setup that we had. Those field stoves and immersion heaters were as dangerous as the enemy. They were known to explode on occasion. One cook that I worked with was trying to light an immersion heater, and it wouldn't light . He leaned over to look down into it and BOOM! it blew his helmet about 30 feet into the air, and singed off his eyebrows. We all laughed so hard that it hurt.
Well at least you guys got a good laugh out of event that very much is straight out of a comedy skit
thats awesome lmao
@@gsamalot definitely sounds like it couldve been on an episode of m.a.s.h.
I can imagine the look on his face!
哈哈哈哈哈！！
I remember being out on patrol for several days just eating our C-rats and while we were heading back to the company position we ran across a field kitchen down in a shallow depression. I ordered my guys to fall into the end of the chow line and we ended up eating chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes, gravy and fresh vegetables. Best meal ever. The mess sergeant looked at us kind of funny because we were so dirty but didn't say anything. You don't know what a great morale booster that was for my team. Those guys cooking and preparing food in the field should be highly respected.
When was this?
@@Roger-rh5lu you understand that feeding the troops is extremely important right? The Germans had men feeding the troops too. Your grandpa would have been totally fine with it.
As someone that preferred working out in the field, you're very welcome! Marine 3381 here...
@@Roger-rh5lu Guess you were never in the military were you?
@@Roger-rh5lu women’s work? Look around at the restaurants near you. How many male cooks? How many female cooks? Cooking for a family is one thing, even if it’s a big family. This is cooking for a 150-200 at a time. It’s logistics, pure and simple. Knowing what you had told you what you could prepare and you had to prepare it quickly.
The only problem with this video is that it ended.
@Tyler M23 What?
Wanna see 2019soldiers taste that or just taste anyone
Absolutely well said
Yes agree
@haters are dead and I feel great oh, I'm not sure how someone misunderstood but my point was that I really liked this video and was left wanting more quality content
“Jesus, what the hells in this?”
“Nothin you won’t eat Malarky.”
I won't eat Malarkey...
heinkel???
1st Captain Raldoron “this ain’t spaghetti, it’s army noodles with ketchup”
Mit Hinkel ve vill eat ze armpit.
3 MILES UP.......
The unseen logistics of war. Most people don't realize how big a part logistics plays in war, or how many non combat personnel it takes to support them. Imagine all that food, for all those soldiers had to come all the way from the US.
Î always try to explain it like this, you've got a tank with four crewman, these crewman need food, so you need a cook to prepare meals, the cook needs a truck for his field kitchen and supplies, the tank needs fuel, so you need a guy with a truck loaded with fuel, the tank needs ammunition, so next guy next truck. All these guys need medical care, next guys next truck.
All these trucks need mechanics too, all these trucks need fuel too, all these guys also need food too, and all of them have a military record and want to get their pay om time. All this for 4 guys and a tank, speaking oversimplified.
@@cdev2117 Pretty good summary of it. You should also mention all the people needed to track this stuff and move it around. What these four guys need, how much of it, and where. To track where that stuff is while it's moving (and who is carrying what, where) so they can make sure it actually gets to them. More trucks, more fuel, more guys.
And the guys who make out the pay checks, their clothing, even toilet paper.. all that stuff had to come across on ships, and those ships required all that stuff all over again, etc etc etc......like I said originally, logistics is what runs and army. How they fight and use it is another story of course, but to maintain what ever the do choose to do with it, takes a huge amount of effort.
Logistics and intelligence wins you the war.
Even more baffling was for me that the term supply line/supply chain is not a figurative term.
Not long ago I red an article on the operations of Habsburg imperial troops against ottomans in Hungary. They had an endless chain of wagons coming after the army just 10-15 000 men strong, unloading supply and immediately turning back for more. It is estimated that without this chain of wagons the army would disband in 3 days due to lack of supply. It was truly enlightening.
My father was a T-4 corporal army field cook in the Philippines in 1945. He passed away when I was 9 and never talked about his war experiences. Thank you for this video, for giving me a glimpse of what his service involved.
There's a book called Rampage: Yamashita and the Battle of Manila that covers a lot of what the cooks saw and dealt with. Give it a read.
Considering the brutality of the Japanese it makes sense why he wouldn't talk about his experience
An overview of the comment section:
1. Grandpas' or modern Military experiences.
2. Steve1989MREinfo
Nice.
Nice m'kay
Thanks for laying out these comments
I guess you could say you got these out onto a tray.
Nice!
Or arguments over jokes people made.
Nice
I don't think many people understand just how high the level of technology was back in the 1940s. this is actually amazing.
The fact that the US could do all that shows how insane the American war economy was during WW2. We could ship food thousands of miles then heat it up on site with gasoline powered stoves. The second is more shocking, given the Axis issues with oil during the war.
Pressure pump stoves for kerosene & petrol have been in use since the early 1900s.
In fact, the Americans invented a portable pressure pump stove that could run on gasoline, naptha, kerosene, or diesel. It was no bigger than 2 stacked tin cans. The technology is still used today in some hiking/camping stoves, with a few modifications.
WWII will always be the most fascinating time in history for me. The sheer scale of the war and technology difference was huge. From an infantryman with a rifle to a high-altitude bomber with electric-powered turrets, radar, and advanced bomb-sights. Yet, even a squad of well-trained men could fight off greater technologies to a certain extent.
The USA had a highly mechanised force in WWII, the Germans were still largely foot and using horse drawn carriages with only enough trucks and halftracks for tactical manoeuvre. And chronically short of fuel, the Americans using gas for their field stoves and water heaters would have been unthinkable for them.
@Mickey Zombish Please give some examples. What exactly has gotten worse since then?
I was in the Australian Army as a cook in the 99’s, I remember using the stoves.
It was a good bit of kit
Try working a 2 watch in a USMC messhall in the '80s! You'd work lunch, dinner day 1... day 2, breakfast, lunch, dinner... day 3, breakfast... 6 meals; you didn't get off until 1930-2000 that night! Man, that sucked!
@@ke6ziu ours was 0530-1900.
Two days on two days off, every second weekend was a long weekend.
It was good. A seven day fortnight, but you done two weeks work in those seven days.
I think they finally replace the gasoline powered stoves and immersion heaters some years back. The Army was moving to all Diesel fuel and they were trying to ease the logistics aspect.
"Hot food, coffee, cigarettes we're making a push sure as shit" - your Sgt. before your squad attacks the Siegfried Line.
When trumpets fade
My dad was a army mess sargent stationed in germany in the 80's and I remember them still using some of this stuff.
Brings back good memories when I used to hang with him and had a blast watching all the behind the scenes stuff at his mess hall and nabbing yummy goodies the cooks would give me.
I guess it was my fresh young tastebuds but I actually liked the rations dad would give me before he went out for field training with his company. I guess it was his way of comforting me while he was gone come to think of it. I miss him.
Best comment of them all, nice. Sounds like you had a wonderful dad I know mine was. He too he pasted in 2015. I can relate, it's not easy but I am so thankful for all the time he spent with me sooo many memories. Thanks Pop.
If you ever watch the film Zulu it features field kitchens near the beginning of the film: 24.50 ua-cam.com/video/62v94vnh8wo/v-deo.html That design of field cooker the last of the stock all met a watery grave they were onboard the SS Atlantic Conveyor en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Atlantic_Conveyor
I was an Air Force cop in Germany back in the 80s and some of the best chow I had was from an Army field kitchen. Of course being out in the field eating C-rats and MREs might have affected my judgement at the time
"Have you trained on the M1937 soldier?"
"Uh... yeah sure, I can hit anything out to 300 yards with that baby"
Projectile vomit
Infantry, Korea, DMZ 1984-85; I was surprised how often our cooks got hot rations out to us. Very welcome.
Mikhailia Gacesa Thank you for your service!
np
thamks to the lack of air supreiority in the commie force.
?
@@mikhailiagacesa3406 He's saying the cooks were able to get hot food to you often because the lack of communist air control meant they did not have the necessary intel to stop your cooks from making it out to you guys closer to the front...I think
Also keep in mind! During the liberation of France and the Netherlands during the summer, they would get fresh vegetables donated from farmers, now THAT must have been such a huge morale booster!
That's their way of saying "merci ". Maybe a little local wine with the chow
I thought the Dutch were starving in the last year of the war.....
Farmers that didn't know that they were donating😂
@@davidgudlaugson528if you’re a farmer, you don’t know the different in time of war, only when the government came when you did
@@bizzyizzy9526 I understood that reference!
Americans: Man, I can't believe they cancelled our hot meal this week.
Soviets: You guys got food?
Bob Bee
you have worst propaganda, lol.
Победник РСК least we can feed our troops lol 😂.
@@kevinpasion5281 We fed *their* troops, too. Kruschev said SPAM was the most valuable contribution of the US in the War.
I'm not sure if he was mocking our boys or just pointing out how important supplies are. I'll give Nikki the benefit of the doubt.
strangeyoungman Didn’t know that, thanks for sharing some info man!
@@kevinpasion5281 here is more information, it is without a doubt true that in world war 2 russian soliders were more often feed by foreign western armies than russians. The bad part about this is that this is why so many millions of brave russian solidrs that fought the germans into western europe were arrested and put into gulags. Stalin didnt want the armies to come back and tell of the "wonderful" life in the west. By wonderful, i simply mean they were feed and given basic human rights. The russain solider were arrested under article 58 in the criminal code, you can look it up. I cant remember the exact section inside the article that allowed for the arresting of soliders. This is not in any propaganda. You can look the freak code up yourself.
Canadian Army, we still use the immersion heaters. If it ain’t broke...
I was a Canadian Army reservist from 1979 until 1981. I remember the immersion heaters very well. On a chilly morning, the warm water was really appreciated as it made shaving and cleaning oneself much more comfortable.
Yea I was just gonna say, still use those fuckers.
Canada has an army? why?
@@teufelhund4921 Our southern friends fuck everything up ;)
@@stevestruthers6180 They made us shave with cold water at CFB Borden!
I'd really love to have a good movie about the military support personnel.
Cooks, Medicals, Mechanics, Ammo loaders, etc.
We've already seen enough of the fighters and intelligence stuff, and not to discredit them of course.
M*A*S*H 4077: "You called?"
Well, medics get some love sometimes (for instance that one pacifist guy who refused to kill anyone and instead dragged all of his allies into cover and patched them up), and mechanics maybe arguably (though it's most often just tankers fixing up their tank in the field more than the guys at the base), but you're right that in general more movies about different aspects of the war would be nice. Hell, even something about the homefront and the shift in the industry.
That would actually be an interesting show. In the right hands, it would be a good slice of life military drama about the people that do all the "Behind the Scenes" work in the military.
The cook is a role of real importance! Imagine not having a hot meal for a week and then having a real hot meal ! I say the cook as always been underrated!
2:22 Real combat footage. One guy drops his rifle, another loses his helmet.
Touche
Their training wasn’t as advanced as it is nowadays.
must be italians
Yeah, most soldiers were barely or never trained and just drafted out to war. All you had to learn was how to shoot a gun and handle equipment.
@@landlockedcroat1554 I dunno... Those soldiers are moving FORWARD.
I served in the US army as a cook in the 1980s. Our equipment was almost identical to what is shown in this video. In the field, my job included waking up at 4:00am, starting the generator and lighting the immersion heaters. I also fueled the stoves.
Evilstorm11 I shouldn't laugh but LOL.
@Evilstorm11 kinda disrespectful dont you think?
Evilstorm11 What are you talking about?
Evilstorm11 sounds like we have a Napoleon syndrome going...
Evilstorm11 You're a moron and a scumbag.
I remember being out in the field for weeks with nothing but MRE’s.... then returning to the field HQ and having a warm meal. Definitely a morale booster
Americans: food and cook
German : can we get food too?
German supply line: we don't do that here
It's funny but true.
When one German Commander during at the Battle of the Bulge got his hands on an American Food ration and saw a chocolate bar inside, he knew that War is lost.
Didn't they just have meth?
@@Supperdude9 pervitin for breakfast, lunch and dinner ( sometimes second dinner)
@@Romanov117 it was actually a Chocolate Cake from a bakery in New York, not a chocolate bar
@@Romanov117 Pretty sure that by the battle of the bulge they knew the war was lost regardless of what Americans were eating. Though I'm sure it was one more nail in the coffin of any lingering delusions.
Having been in the Army for over 20 years its good to see people like yourselves keeping history alive and not just something to be read in a book. I think you guys are underestimated by many historians and academics.
In the Infantry we rarely got to eat near our battalion rear area. We usually had marmite hot chow brought to us in the field. The only time we had chow in tents was during REFORGER exercises after we moved off the field and vehicles washed, weapons and equipment cleaned. We were still issued the G.I. Mess Kits in the 1980s and through the mid 90s but hardly ever used them. Instead we ate out of paper plates like the guys from Vietnam and forward. The Canteen Cup was always used by most soldiers for coffee and making Ramen noodles out in the field or heating up MRE packets which worked well before MRE Heaters became available.
I had to learn some light infantry skills from The Army in 1991 (even though I was USAF!). Because we regularly did 18-20 hour days, we ate regularly from Mermites.
As a Marine Vietnam Vet 67 -68 I cannot recall ever using anything but my mess kit for chow.at mess. In the field it was C rations out of the can.
American: Hot meals
German: Leather boots
Soviet: Sawdust
Soviet: What? We had food?
Japanese: muddy water
Yeah, right. Cuz' tushonka (canned meat), shi (vegetable soup with meat) and borstch are all Soviet propaganda. I bet you even consider the meals we got by Lend-Lease propaganda.
@@anton.chigrinetc.96 people in Leningrad during the siege want to know your location
@@anton.chigrinetc.96 are you on every video that makes a soviet joke bruh i did not even expect you to be here
You were damned lucky to get a hot meal in WWII. The hardships those guys faced were unspeakable. Many thanks.
Very informative.
Wish it was actually longer.
This needs a feature film length documentary
2:25 "oh shit i dropped my rifle"
2:28 "oh shit my helmet"
I re watched that. That's awesome that you noticed that.
I think those clips are from the Wartime Film "Battle at San Pietro" which was restaged after the battle concluded for the film.
Terrific video. My father-in-law was a cook in the 3rd Army during WWII. Died in 2001 when our daughter was 2 and I just sent her this video so she would have a better idea of what her Grandpa did for his country during the war.
I remember eating the output of those kitchens in the Army. We were always grateful for a hot meal, so the food tasted wonderful. I suspect it was good even if we weren't hungry, tired and dirty!
Nothing beats some corn beef hash after doing a little bit of work outside. Whether that be fighting the Germans or digging fortifications
Meanwhile in the German army:
"Hans, what's for dinner?"
Hans: "Well, all the horses are gone so ... boot leather."
“ we’ll eat what the Frenchman down the road is having for supper!”
The German army in WW2 was called the Heer.
Eric No, it was the Wehrmacht. Heer is the modern day German army.
@just some dude without moustache it was heer, the wehrmatch was all the armed forces (heer, luftwaffe and kriegsmarine)
Boot leather and meth
I served as a US Army cook (94b) from 1985-1989 and much was still the same, In training we learned how to set up both the "m1948 kitchen tent" and the MKT or mobile kitchen trailer. We still used the m2 burner unit and the stove/oven pictured. In practice we used a deuce and half truck that was "built out" for a field kitchen and quarters.
An it used diesel fuel instead of gasoline...... you rarely see these things now,unless you're in the reserves or national guard...
@@juanlupe30 And still uses the trashcan with the burner to clean the pots and pans.
Keiith if it ain’t broke don’t fix it that’s especially true for aussies
I was born in 81 while you were learning cool stuff.
Crap, I possibly ate some of the food you cooked....
We were using all of that same equipment in 1981, when I went to Food Service Specialist AIT in Ft. Dix and continued to use all of it in the Reserves out until at least 1986. They are probably still using it today. MO Gas, Immersion heaters, etc. all are great inventions.
Awesome...my grandfather served in the Pacific, and he told us stories of the difficulties in getting food and setting up the kitchens.When he was older he had gained weight, but he always laughed and said if we had starved like he did we’d be fat forty years later also! RIP Papa, Semper Fi!
Everyone thinks of the armaments in war but rarely do we think about the logistics if feeding an army on the move. Thank you for the interesting perspective.
True. "The amateur studies tactics, the professional studies logistics."
Tactics are for boys, logistics for men.
Most people don’t think about the cooks so to any military cooks who reads this thank you for keeping the military running.
Leslie Lively
Hello ☺️
That goes for ships, cattle drives, some trains. But from what I have heard not to sure about air planes?
Fun related story. I'm from a rural part of Belgium. My grandparents told me that , When the allied troops Secured our towns and the People could move freely, the soldiers would trade their Dried eggs and milk for fresh versions. They were super happy to be able to consume fresh Milk and eggs.
not surprised at all. even today dried and canned food gets very monotonous after awhile, and i can only imagine that in the 40's when the technology involved was a lot more primitive than today, those canned and dried foodstuffs were pretty bland. (and i doubt that the cooks had access to much in the way of seasoning beyond salt and pepper). so getting fresh anything would be a treat. and eggs and milk would be something they'd be able to trade for that didn't put the locals too much at a disadvantage. (after all, the chickens will be laying more eggs in a couple days and cows can be milked again.) i'd imagine the troop's preserved food items were in demand too since they'd keep and would give those families supplies for leaner times such as winter.
@@glitterboy2098 I agree with why the troops wanted to trade. Appearantly they were tired of the taste of dried foods. I think the locals were trading because they were amazed to see dried versions of the food, or to make the troops happy. The part were my grandparents lived was more rural, so there had never been a need for dried versions of the food.
Great job. This was filmed at Rockford, IL's Midway Village WWII Days re-enactment, one of our nation's largest. When WWII re-enacting began at Weldon Spring, MO, we had a WWII field stove that we used to cook our Sunday morning breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage. It warms my heart to see how far recreating WWII has improved since when I produced that first event in 1975.
This is what my grandfather did during the war in Northern France. Unfortunately he passed away before I was born, and never told really any stories. So thank you for the fascinating video for insight into what his kitchen and job looked like!
We got Steamed Crab Legs once, it was purely a accident , but hey, We Got Crab Legs Once...!
That's fucking awesome. I wish a happy accident like that would happen to me haha
Tyler PM zzZ you’ll have your first born soon
@@mg6192 damn I need some ointment for that burn
That means the brass got chili-mac!
@RingSight91 Interestingly enough, the Air Force is How we Got The Crab Legs....
This looks like my typical camping trip. It does make my backpack a little full.
My uncles say the best meals they had in the war came out of those field kitchens. They fought under Gen Clark in Italy and Patton after the breakout from Normandy.
My grandfather was a cook in the army.. always talked about cooking eggs in the bottom of a 55 gallon drum.. now I know what he meant 😂
Great narrations and reenactment!
Fascinating (to me at least). This is part of the logistics story that rarely gets told. Lots of video about guns, bullets, grenades and shells. but not enough about how they got those war materials to the front line troops. Nutrition, communications, and intelligence are just as important as tactics and firefights. Good job. Please post more videos!
I was an army cook from 1985 to 1989 and we were still using the m2 burner unit, the 1939 stove and the emertion. Heaters but the mermite cans were rectangular and held 3 inserts
That is probably one of the most incredible videos I've ever seen on World War II thank you so much
I experienced having eaten from different field kitchens, doing three different periods. Civil War, World War 1 and 2. There was a group called, "Combat Caterers". Very authentic, and tried to serve as period as possible. You guys looked great. It's, a subject, that gets overlooked, by a lot of historians, both from the modern military, and throughout history. There have been several books that touched on the subject. The most memorable one, was "Private", by an author, who was a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge, Lester Atwell. He writes, about the field kitchens and how they prepared the rations. Thanks again for an interesting video
Check out James Townsend
There's an amazing book done by a Civil War veteran called 'Hardtack and Coffee' by John D. Billings. It's an excellent read about camp life during the Civil War, though it focuses mainly on the Army of the Potomac because it was the one that the author had served in. It goes into not just the food but also the patches and communications technology of the time, as well as several chapters about what camp life was actually like.
I remember some civil war guys came to our middle school. They gave us hardtack and then shot a cannon in the middle of our football field.
Great video. I worked field feeding for the Air Force and it's amazing how much things haven't really changed since WWII. The M1937 became the M-59 range, we used M-2 burners filled with 2.2 gallons of MOGAS which you couldn't fill all the way. You had to leave a little room for air and "burp" the heater before replacing the fuel cap. One important note: under no circumstances are two lit M-2 burners to be placed stacked together one on top of the other following an incident where personnel were seriously injured in an explosion. M-67 immersion heaters were used for our mess kit laundry operations and we conducted the feeding out of mobile kitchen trailers. During field training exercises, MRE's would be issued for the lunch meal and dinner would be at the MKT with "A" rations being served supplemented by breads, fruit, beverages, etc.
This keeps popping up in my reccomendations every 6 months or so...
...and i keep watching it every time
This was one of the best videos I have watched. We were still being fed like that in Germany when I served there in the Army back in 1987. One morning we were standing in the chow line in a blinding rain storm with water running off our steel pots right in to our food. Just like in the movies.
You cant find videos about this things out there. As a WW2 enthusiast, i will like to encorage you to make more of this videos. Bravo, and well done :)
Well here is one, made in 1942, about the logistics...
ua-cam.com/video/1oWvK4Wn3S4/v-deo.html
That was really well done and you really deserve credit for capturing this piece of historical information. Thank you.
Imagine being cold and miserable close to the front line and the field kitchen shows up and you have warm grub ready for you. It would lift spirits pretty high I reckon.
Great post; spot on, thanks. I spent a career in the Army 70s-90s: our field kitchens used the same equipment...it worked well and the food was great. The standard fare was "As" for morning and evening and "Cs" for lunch. If we weren't moving, "Cs" were often heated with immersion heaters. Immersion heaters were dangerous to light for the uninitiated...very easy to lose your eye lashes by seeing if the heater was working by looking down into it too soon.
Paladin 06
They can be a little scary even if you know what you’re doing.....
To any military cooks reading this: Thanks for your service. You guys are highly important. Without you, those on the line would starve to death. Keep it up.
I have to say this is like the most interesting thing to me when comes to learning about WWII, like yes the battles are interesting but learning what the soldiers ate or what the did when not fighting or how they entertain each other is just maybe a bit more interesting. Kinda puts you in the shoes of a WWII solider as you imagine what it was like back then.
I served with the Australian Army as a cook for 11 years till 2000 all this kit was still in service!
My grandfather joined the war, along with all of his brothers. But my grandfather was a peaceful man, still knowing he had to do his part he became a cook. He came home and raised a family, putting 4 kids through college and ensuring a 5th would be taken care of. He was the best man I have ever met, and i miss him every day still. Thank you.
i still have my military mess kits (3) and use them every day. i cook and eat out of it. one of those benefits of being single and 67 yrs old. i also use the U.S. dining ware too. very easy cleanup. old habits are hard to break.
I have a question you're Nam age you ever have an actual cooked hot meal or was it see rats cook in the warmer been there done that 🤣
it was actually a cat and not a rat....it really wasn't too bad. served with rice and vegetables in a pho broth...…I would like to never do that again...but that being said at the time it was delicious and hot……..miss nam, I would like to go back.……….@@philliplapkovitch311
I gave my 4 stainless steel trays away a few months back.....now I miss them.@Adam Brady
One of the best videos I have ever seen!!! Thanks guys and my fellow Vets!
I was in the Army, active duty and reserve from 1967 to 1996. Our company kitchen looked just like this until the mid- 80's .
This is so amazing! Especially when you consider that in spite of all of these logistical hurdles, the US military was the best fed force in the entire war.
The logistics for the war in incredible. Honestly, that is part of the reason we started doing a living history field kitchen. You don't win wars without logistics and manufacturing.
@@tabskitchen3283 I never considered it until I saw a video a about "tooth to tail." It's really fascinating though how the USA has managed to maintain a competent and well fed military no matter it has been deployed. It's truly an amazing feature of American productivity and adaptation to serve the needs of the military when deployed.
This was SO Very cool! I'm a HUGE history buff and I enjoyed this immensely!! Thank You For Sharing!!!
During my time in the British Army in the 1980s I well remember using petrol fuelled water heaters very similar to the ones shown here, if you got a good one that worked as they were meant to,they were brilliant, you could have a metal dustbin of water boiling in no time.If you got a bad one with a dodgy drip valve you ended up with one that would go out but would still have a considerable amount of unburnt petrol in the bottom of the burn chamber,it became a running joke to have the new guys light these particular heaters and then laugh like idiots when they lost their eyebrows to the column of roaring fire that would erupt out of them when they dropped a lit match into the burn chamber.Yeah I know, very childish,iresponsible and somewhat dangerous but most of us were barely out of our teens and at the time we all thought it was funny as fuck.
I would be laughing to
That's just part of soldiering,
Remember we was young and a bit wild.
When you think bout it a 35 year old was OLD and near retirement.
LMAO...Same experience with US Army, Germany in 80's. Had a guy in the platoon trying to light the submersible with the drip valve. Wouldn't light, kept dripping, put his head over the exhaust vent to look in...BOOM. Happened to be watching and about ready to warn him. He had hair bangs and glasses. Scared the crap out of him. Ran over to check him out...Face black from soot, eyebrows gone, what was left of his bangs curled up, and 2 white eye sockets from his glasses. The good ole days.
They would have been a heck of a lot easier to light if we had the lighter the guy in the video had, instead of trying to light them with matches.
@@minuteman4199 never thought of just finding a stick, split one end and jam a wad of kerosene soaked rags in the split to use it as an improvised lighter device?
seeing that much stainless steel utensils, purpose built equipment, and "make it work" mentality makes me really really nostalgic for my boy scout days ^_^
Nice video. My Combat Engineer unit used this into the late 1980’s & my Military Police HQ units had cooks assigned until the late 1990’s
This guy and Steve1989MREInfo is a two hour documentary i want to see... on WW2 nutrition and logistics
Nice
Nice hiss
Let's get this on a tray
Yes, more of the logistics less of the daring do...(no offence to the frontliners, but it is well covered already)... From go to woe..
c o f f e e i n s t a n t t y p e i i .
I've just discovered this vid on Veterans Day. Makes me appreciate what they went through even more. Thanks.
Fascinating video - thanks for preserving & providing insight into history
My grandpa was a army cook during the Korean War. This is awesome to see.
That’s a cool collection of equipment. I love seeing the more mundane stuff, as compared to what is normally presented in pop history.
A wonderful talk.
These are the things most WW2 buffs don't think about.
As a lifelong fascinated buff myself, I never thought about it.
I'd love to experience this!
It's just so interesting.
Thank you. Our next scheduled event is Rockford WW2 Days in September
It's nice that all this is preserved by enthusiasts. I bet these kitchens were a godsend to the troops at the time
A hot meal is great for morale and the soul.
Thank you for the great sources.
While in the Marine Corps in the 1980s, one of my additional duties was to sign for the Field Mess....so, I supervised inventory of the field mess "system" assigned to our unit. I think we took it to the field once and our assigned bakers and cooks used it for several days, preparing "two hots" for the Marines. A real novelty....this was as field messes were beginning to be phased out and better quality "Meal Ready to Eat" were being phased in with "tray-packs" and other alternatives to the field mess phenomena. Among Marine Corps occupational specialties, and even within the Combat Service Support "MOS'", there were many professions that did not get the credit they were due; in my opinion, while Motor Transport was unheralded, the profession of cooks and bakers was absolutely taken for granted. I cannot think of a more difficult job in the Marine Corps, in the post-Vietnam era, than that of Food Service.
I've heard it said that for every man on the front, there was 100 in the rear supporting him. It took everyone to win.
Just remember, even though you are a cook, doesn't mean you can't end up on the front. :In the Battle of the Bulge, cooks and clerks were thrown into the line, and fought like tigers, and died like heroes. As the Marines say, "Every man is a rifleman!"
If WWII-era propaganda was to be condensed into a single message, it would be just that.
Ah 1943, a good year for beans.
-Hawkeye Pierce
Were you related to this Hawkeye guy?
Greetings from Montréal, Québec, Canada !!! My Father was a WWII Veteran (Passed away in 1981 64 Yrs. old) He always changed the subject when I would ask questions about the war as a child, sooo I have access to so many videos on the Internet and Movies/TV Series that relate about it, it helps my comprehension of how it went !!! Thank you for your video, really appreciated it !!! Cheers !!!
Okey, its now recommended. This food would being serve again as WW3
@Mickey Zombish There better be at least some unfiltered Camel cigs and instant coffee in those rations
@Mickey Zombish also GMO Corn Syrup giving the illusion of healthy food.
@Mickey Zombish also GMO Corn Syrup giving the illusion of healthy food.
Her: He’s probably out there cheating.
Me and the boys:
Used the M37 with the NZ army in the 1980's. Great kit.Pretty much identical to whats shown here as well as the immersion heaters shown. But when learning you got used to losing facial hair...WHOOOMMMPPPFFF!!!
Even after you learn it can still happen if you don’t pay attention
I would like to note that M37 is also the designation for one of the US' vietnam era grenade launchers which confused me slightly
Lol..... yup.
Pulled KP in desert shield/strom many a time....
Luxury catering compared to the rat paks issued
@@stevepercival4774 yes, called Uglies in my time. Jelleymeat Cat food was found to be more nutricious. Smells and flavours still strong in the memory....
This is one of the best military videos I've ever seen.
Informative on a subject lot of veterans remember and civilians look over.
Thank you
Revisited this once more, since i recently got a printed copy of TM 10-412 out of curiosity after viewing other videos. Good meals with 4-5 ingredients, a bit bland for todays standard, but fills my stomach. Just have to say thanks for the references to other printed sources.
Great to see those reenactors that are apart of the 34th infantry! My dad served with the Red Bulls over seas so I have a special place for the Red Bulls. Unfortunately I'm medically unqualified to serve in the military, but if I could, I would love to serve with the Red Bulls.
"Attack, Attack, Attack!"
I served with the 34th in Iraq.
*_"An Army Marches On It's Stomach."_*
- _Napoleon Bonaparte._
That gentleman is a great source of knowledge. Thank you
He's a wealth of knowledge and really is a gentleman.
In 1989 when I joined the Army National Guard, the emersion heater was the firs piece of equipment I was ever licensed on. The good old days.
American logistics and organisation won the war. Guns helped, but it was American's ability to literally crush Germany and Japan under the cogs of their massive industry which lead to victory. For every tank the Germans built, American factories cranked out dozens. Japanese troops were down to throwing rocks and charging with sharp sticks while surviving off hot water with a single noodle while the Americans had fleets of ships bringing in supplies. The level of organisation and coordination was absolutely staggering, considering that EVERYTHING had to be shipped over the Atlantic/Pacific.
U are saying like america single Handley won ww2
@@TheGreatConqueror1 in their defense they pretty much did..the allies were at the verge of losing the battle had america not joined and tipped the scale in their favor.
Though this is true, the US had the luxury of not having their centres of industry under the threat of attack. And because America has all the natural resources that it would need in war, it also had the luxury of not having the need to secure raw materials from elsewhere. Logistics in war is always going to be difficult but not having to worry much about if your supplies are going to be made will always make it easier. Both pacific and Atlantic theatres never had risks of major bombing campaigns for the continental US.
Yup, those folks that produced the where with all to feed, arm, and supply the troops, had largely done that by 1944.
I find your “hot water with a single noodle” disturbing! Okinawan Cave defenses were stock to the brim with supplies and so intricate that the biggest artillery guns can’t reach them. And the heavy monsoons make the battle worse for the Americans because the Japanese can sleep comfortably in their caves while Americans are soaking wet in a foxhole without sleep.
This reminded me the good ol' stories of chuckwagon, cookie, and it's band of cowboys.
Back in 1800s, it was essential for a cattle drive company to have a good chuck wagon and a good cookie ( often retired grumpy cowhand). As the cowboys' morale pretty much depends on the hot meal at the end of the long hard day, and the overall success of the cattle run.
I expect the military field kitchen and the cooks give the same vibe to the soldiers as well. Nothing beats a hot and well prepared meals to boost your morale during turbulent and difficult times.
Hell yeah! Shits rough out there, and I know it keeps me going knowing I got a hot meal ready for me at home, and I'm not even military!
Seen Cowboy Kent's channel?
@@Pygar2 yup, that's where I got my Cookie's fix from.
a lot of that equipment was srill in use in the 80's when I served