How the Army fixed damaged mess gear etc!

[Sabrejet]

A short but fascinating clip!

 

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675076670_reclamation-activities_battered-cans_man-working_damaged-gasoline-cans

 

[Sarge8]

Great- did you see the other clip about repainting the M1 helmets? Saw a 29th ID helmet and medic helmet being painted over.

[Sabrejet]

Great- did you see the other clip about repainting the M1 helmets? Saw a 29th ID helmet and medic helmet being painted over.

Yup...I just added it to a helmet thread...that's when I found this one also! Great website/ film archive.

[ccyooper]

_{great post . I didn't realize that they fixed canteens, etc in the field... as well as the crushed gas and water cans...}

[jgawne]

ah, there is a reson they did. In the ETO (as elsewhere) there was always a shortage of jerrycans as too many were ust dumped when empty, or stolen. They finally instituted a jerycan exchange where you could not get a full one until you provided the old empty. So any that could be reclaimed were quite valuable and did not take up any room on ships over or take any more metal.

 

However, there is a clause in the geneva convention that POWs must be allowed to retain their mess gear, or receieve substitutes if it has been lost or gamaged. So as the war in europe went on they had to provide thousands of mess kits, cups and cutlery for POWs. It became a massive task, and why they started making some in Belgium as well. I no longer recall where, but there was an article about this problem and how it really posed a major issue for the Americans.

 

as well as the butt of many jokes about 934th messkit repair battalion.

[sgtpeter]

Those are some great clips. Anybody know where the full length video can be found? It sounds like either a newsreel or training video so full length should be somewhere. I found this

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUo5VD3DThc

 

But not the same thing as the clips mentioned above.

 

Peter

[TRR]

Great clip! Pretty ingenious those American fellas Now I am waiting for the next video of an exploding canteen because someone tried that in their garage.

[Jack's Son]

ah, there is a reson they did..........as well as the butt of many jokes about 934th messkit repair battalion.

Thanks for this information, watching the clips makes more sence now.

[Big Al]

That clip reminded me of something I read in the manual for the Browning Machine Rifle (as the WWI version of the BAR was called; I have a pdf of the manual from Google Books). In it, there is a passage about how magazines were brought back into spec. The floor-plate, spring, and follower were removed from the tube (as the manual refers to the magazine body) and the tube is placed over a mandrel. The tube is then struck with a lead hammer until it is back in spec. Very interesting stuff.

[TheGrayGhost]

Wonder how much PSI it took to pop the dents in the canteen?!? Heck, I got a few that could use it.

[witriflyguy]

Thanks for sharing this resource!

[USAF29thINFvet]

Where is the clip for the repainting of helmets? I would like to see it.

 

Thanks

 

Brian

[sgtpeter]

Try this link for the helmet video

 

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675076669_reclamation-activities_helmets-piled-up_man-cleaning_helmets-of-soldiers-and-medics

[MichaelDecker]

Wow! Awsome, Never knew they did that!

Michael

[dustin]

A pic relative to the discussion

 

[hawkdriver]

To keep this a secret in the early days of the war, they developed a Battalion to do it and they hid it by doing it under water. OK, I set it up, some old head want to finish it?