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Emergency Water cans- found in S.P. vets grouping


wagner
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Hi Guys,

I found these 2 cans which still feel like they are filled with water, in a vets grouping who served in the South Pacific in 1944/45.

Can someone tell me more about when these were used, and any collector value would be appreciated.

 

Thanks in Advance.

 

-wagner-

 

 

 

Vetg-Fairplay037-1.jpg

 

 

Vetg-Fairplay038-1.jpg

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craig_pickrall

They were used in Life Raft emergency kits. Maybe other places as well. I think they are USN items with the grey paint.

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These are 1950s 1960s era tins of water for survival kits, etc The date 1962 are probably the packing date. They appear to have a USN contract number....Might get a couple dollars or so.

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Army used them also in aircraft survival kits up until about 2000 when the Mylar water pouches came out. I have about half dozen myself, but they are not in as good as condition as yours.

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The N383-155s-77754 number tells us for sure this is a US Navy contract item and it's a post-WWII item. This number was used beginning during the Korean War. Here's a photo of a case of these from 1952.

 

waterbox.jpg

 

The military specification on these "MIL W 15117" dates back to WWII and is still on the books today. The Coast Guard required that standard to be met for canned water packed with civilian life rafts.

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These were also in refugee relief supplies in SEA. Saw pallets of them in 1970, after a typhoon. Funny how they appeared in the "black" market stalls shortly thereafter.... (The VNese liked them for making cocktails, as local water was, well, crummy.)

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I don't know how valid the check is, but when we inspected them for Army survival kits we'd strike them with a palm on one end. If you felt a "glop", it was good to drink. If a "splash", not so much.

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Ha!

We had a butterbar (2nd Lt.) who saw these cans in an old Civil Defense barrel. He asked if there was real water in the cans (he hadn't picked them up yet). I and the other NCOs told him that the cans had dehydrated water in them and that you had to add 10 oz of water to re-hydrate the water. Then we told him to go tell the Commander that he found some cans of dehydrated water. He didn't come back for a long time ... I guess the CO told him something different.

It's always fun to rib a shavetail.

 

 

BEAR

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I pulled the same type of water cans out of our emergency kit in a Minuteman III Launch Control Centers floor in the mid 80's. We were looking for the emergency bottle of Jack Daniels but didnt find it.

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