Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Remembering Rationing
(Major Rey Hypolito T.) UGH the food! What is there to even say about the food?! Navy food was … well… less than desirable, would be the nicest way to describe what they fed us. Our dried consisted with mostly dehydrated food. Though I know we should be one of the last people to be complaining because things could have been much worse. At least we did not ….But these things if it had not been for the tin cans that Marie [Anderson's wife] and Mother sent me, I might not have made it…along with so many others. We treated food that people sent us like pieces of gold. Normally our meals consisted of powdered eggs at breakfast which were best when doused with ketchup — ugh. Our Engineering Officer was about 5' 6" and weighed about 135 pounds. He could eat a half dozen of those powdered items — and squirt half a bottle of ketchup on them. No one else at the Wardroom table could stand to watch him! The dehydrated potatoes were in the shape of diced cubes. After soaking, to take on water again, they were barely edible as mashed potatoes. Our milk was powdered too, so creamed potatoes were less than desirable. Once in a rare while we'd have powdered ice cream. The best thing about it was being cold.
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Dehydrated potatoes? Ha! Your post brings back old memories, although I am sure that the terrible treatment given to your stomach was mainly because you were in the navy. From what I have heard from you, the food in the ground forces was comparatively excellent; many times, the food was brought fresh to the front lines. When we were conducting defensive operations in Italy for example, we had our supply lines right behind us and they brought us delicious, hot food every single day. But when we went on the offensive, the supply lines couldn’t keep up. This is when the food becomes even worse than the Navy rations. We had to depend on our atrocious Individual Emergency Rations, which were basically only supposed to give you enough calories to kill the Nazis and the idiots that created this ration obviously didn’t have good taste as one of its requirements. The IERs were stored in a golden tin and contained 12 biscuits, 2 chocolate bars, and 12 milk chocolate tablets. They might not sound that bad, but imagine a cup of chocolate concentrated into a single, sickly sweet bar, and it isn’t that far from the truth.
ReplyDeleteWow, Major, I wonder what it was that kept you going in spite of what you were given to eat. And Glendon, do you think it was a good thing that your stomach shrunk once you were the Germans' prisoner? I had the same rationing as Lyndon, and my opinion of what we ate is more or less the same. Our fighting burned a lot of calories, as my troops and I were all foot soldiers (we were never in a tank, not even once). Frequently, at the end of the day, it seemed to me like I ate less...much less, than what I actually did, in relation to the running, ducking, and attacking that I performed. Still, though, I am quite jealous. It would be nice if we, too, had our supply line close to us. While on the subject of food, I would like to ask all veterans... what would YOU have done if you had no can opener?
ReplyDeleteMy goodness Major, you must of been so patient and calm to put up with what you were eating! I thought the navy got the best food out of all forces... since if food was already loaded on ships, it would be fresher. Right? If I had the food you were eating, I would go crazy!... which well, I did only a few hundred times during the War Service... You see I had a big stomach and was always demanding food in the beginning of the war. I always remembered from one day in Early 1940, demanding more food than the typical Type-A ration, which contained the most and freshest foods. I didn't know what it was like to starve. However, as the war grew more tense and out of control, I realized the rations started decreasing. I went crazy because of not having enough food in my belly. However, I am different now. After being captured by the Germans and led to their prison camps in 1942, the desperate need of food decreased for me. I was only fed 2 small meals a day and if I complained, I wouldn't be commenting on this blog now. Still, powdered food? You deserve honour for having dehydrated potatoes for 6 years!
ReplyDeleteSimilar to the Commodore, my appetite was voracious. And being on the sea as Major Rey Hypolito T. meant that we had similar foods to choose from. As such, I can only repeat what he has written in saying that the foods were below anything even slightly desirable almost to the point of it being inedible. However, we did have decent rations on my ship so I managed to get by. Funny to see that there were people that were in the same 'boat' as I was with these situations.
ReplyDeleteYes, Michael it was actually a good thing. If I had continued my stubborn attitude of my desire for lots of food, the Germans would kill me right at that prison camp. Also, my weight lost during those months also made my stomach smaller, so... I could of just wanted less food since I had a smaller stomach. And if I had no can opener? I would use my teeth till it rot!! Which is... not a good idea because how am I going to eat the canned food after. Haha.
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