Photographing WW2 Rations at the QM Museum at Ft. Lee, VA

[17thairborne]

Was thinking about taking a jaunt to the Quartermaster Museum in Ft. Lee, VA and see about spending some time with the collections to get photos of their WW2 rations. I have been wanting to put out a detailed color book on US WW2 Combat Rations of the ETO. Thought it would be nice to include as many representative items from the source. Has anyone done something like this before?

 

Thinking of the combat rations such as:

 

K

C

5 in 1

D Bar

Accessory Pack

crates, boxes, cans

Mountain

[Johan Willaert]

French Militaria Magazine has done several articles on them...

[jgawne]

What he said, but New Mexico to Lee is a "jaunt"?

[17thairborne]

What he said, but New Mexico to Lee is a "jaunt"?

 

Frequent flyer miles = free ticket, stay on base in the BOQ, get a rent a wreck, eat at the food court and i could make it a cheap trip!!

 

Well there are the frequent stops at antique shops and militaria dealers in the area...that would ruin the savings

 

[17thairborne]

French Militaria Magazine has done several articles on them...

 

Johan,

Anything done in English?

[Survival]

How about the survival rations???

[17thairborne]

I was thinking of keeping ti to just combat rations, ETO, used by the ground troops, and not delve too deeply into special rations. I suppose the paras used the emergency rations in the "sardine" tins. Is that what you were referring to?

[Johan Willaert]

 

Johan,

Anything done in English?

Not that I know..

[17thairborne]

Thanks Johan!

[17thairborne]

I just spoke with the collections department at the QM Museum. I was shocked to find out that they do not have many representative examples of WW2 US rations in their collections. I understand the issues of the deterioration of rations over time, but the curator informed me that "no one really thought to keep any actual rations from WW2". They have some C and K rations with a few crates and one D ration, but most of what they have is in the from of original WW2 QM photos and all of the documented specifications of the production of the rations. Not many actual rations to display or photograph. He was extremely helpful and highlighted the many folks who have come by over the years, but mostly what they needed was digital copies of original photos and data on the specifications to make reenactor rations.

 

I suspect a book with pics of actual rations from collections would be needed. How many of you out there have rations in your collection other than K and C rat cans and boxes? Anyone have any of the more rare and harder to preserve items such as components from the 5 in 1 rations, canned rations etc?

[Chief Bast]

Absolutely fascinating topic/discussion, Oz. and I would love to see something published for the English-speaking fans of this niche of WWII collecting.

I'm a bit disappointed to hear that Fort Lee has so few surviving examples of wartime rations, but I guess it's not too surprised in retrospect. It's a very challenging area to collecting and find surviving examples of.

Most ration collection fans have seen these photos ad nauseam, but i can safely assume these are a few examples of what Oz might be requesting:

 

Kitchen Spice Pack

 

Aid Station Assortment

[Chief Bast]

A few more:

 

10 in 1 - Breakfast

 

 

5 in 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kration]

I just spoke with the collections department at the QM Museum. I was shocked to find out that they do not have many representative examples of WW2 US rations in their collections. I understand the issues of the deterioration of rations over time, but the curator informed me that "no one really thought to keep any actual rations from WW2". They have some C and K rations with a few crates and one D ration, but most of what they have is in the from of original WW2 QM photos and all of the documented specifications of the production of the rations. Not many actual rations to display or photograph. He was extremely helpful and highlighted the many folks who have come by over the years, but mostly what they needed was digital copies of original photos and data on the specifications to make reenactor rations.

 

I suspect a book with pics of actual rations from collections would be needed. How many of you out there have rations in your collection other than K and C rat cans and boxes? Anyone have any of the more rare and harder to preserve items such as components from the 5 in 1 rations, canned rations etc?

17th AB,

As a longtime ration collector I also talked to the QM guys and was equally surprised to find out how lacking the QM collection is in so many areas... I've probably got one of the larger collections of original Combat Rations & personal items and have been collecting them since the 70's...crates of K's, complete examples of Five in one, Ten in One, Mountain & others, crates, cartons etc.. lots of neat stuff..Had another ration collector buddy up in Pa but I haven't heard from him in many years now.

 

Kration

[17thairborne]

Absolutely fascinating topic/discussion, Oz. and I would love to see something published for the English-speaking fans of this niche of WWII collecting.

 

I'm a bit disappointed to hear that Fort Lee has so few surviving examples of wartime rations, but I guess it's not too surprised in retrospect. It's a very challenging area to collecting and find surviving examples of.

 

Most ration collection fans have seen these photos ad nauseam, but i can safely assume these are a few examples of what Oz might be requesting:

 

Chief,

 

Spot on. I am waiting on some filed from the QM that will help me get started. I keep vacillating between Vol II of my book and some other project. This one should keep my attention lest I look fickle.

[17thairborne]

17th AB,

As a longtime ration collector I also talked to the QM guys and was equally surprised to find out how lacking the QM collection is in so many areas... I've probably got one of the larger collections of original Combat Rations & personal items and have been collecting them since the 70's...crates of K's, complete examples of Five in one, Ten in One, Mountain & others, crates, cartons etc.. lots of neat stuff..Had another ration collector buddy up in Pa but I haven't heard from him in many years now.

 

Kration

 

Kration,

 

Great to hear there are other dedicated rat collectors out there.

 

pm sent

 

[Johan Willaert]

June 2014 edition of French Militaria Magazine will feature another article on the 10in1 Ration...

[17thairborne]

June 2014 edition of French Militaria Magazine will feature another article on the 10in1 Ration...

Excellent. Phillipe tells me that issue will also feature my first article on uniforms of the 139th AEB during the Ardennes Campaign. I hope it is well received. I look forward to seeing the info on the 10-in-1 ration.

 

[Johan Willaert]

Excellent. Phillipe tells me that issue will also feature my first article on uniforms of the 139th AEB during the Ardennes Campaign. I hope it is well received. I look forward to seeing the info on the 10-in-1 ration.

 

 

Great! Looking forward to your article...

 

MM featured an article on the 10/1 in issue 185, many years ago...

Recently in issue 319, there was a complete article on the K-Rat...

 

Here are the first two pages of that article...

 

 

 

Number 185 is out of stock, but 319 can still be back-ordered... They do show up on ebay from time to time...

[17thairborne]

Johan,

pm sent...and thanks for posting this.

 

By the way, here is the magazine's website in France:

 

http://militaria.histoireetcollections.com/en