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Jungle First Aid Kit Individual Roll Type Discussion


rambob
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It may not be general knowledge, but for quite a long time I have been trying to assemble a complete/correct Jungle First Aid Kit Individual in the cloth roll with the original components. I am been using FM 21-11 First Aid for Soldiers manual as my supreme reference. In it there is a small picture of the kit and the component list. I have done tons of research and reviewed the pictures of many kits that claimed to have original contents. I am sure there were many official component substitutions once the kit was created but I have always came back to FM 21-11 as the bible. The most common mistakes/substitutions by collectors have been 2 oz. Insect Repellent instead of the 1 oz. version specified. Also, instead of the 2 oz. metal can of Foot Powder, I have seen the cardboard box with foot powder packets or a can of Insect (Cootie) Powder added. I was searching for some time for a key piece to this first aid kit puzzle and finally won a nice 1 oz. bottle of SKAT insect repellent, so I thought it was time for an update and some speculation.

 

The problem is that the sewn compartments in the roll are designed for a very specific array of components and when you substitute, you may end up with none of the correctly sized compartments left . Also, the compartments are numbered so you can easily see if duplicate compartments for the same component exist in the roll. There also have been some mystery’s for this kit concerning the four pill bottles and their contents. The components list states that the kit should contain 24 of the 5 grain tablets of aspirin. I was lucky enough to find two of the aspirin labeled and packed pill bottles and found they each contain 12 tablets, which nicely filled the two pill bottle comportments numbered 8 in the roll. The Atabrine tablet component was pretty easy to obtain as the labeled empty bottles were available from various locations and with a little work you could find the tablets to fill them. This bottle easily contains the 30, .1 gram tablets and would fill compartment 12 or 7 in the roll. Now here we come to what I believe is a key revelation for this kit concerning the last pill bottle!! It has always been shown in all kits I have seen that the 8 Sulfadiazine tablets in the kit were contained in the small foil packets, which makes sense. However, the picture in FM 21-11 does not show this packet and I believe it was developed after the kit was issued. So assuming this is correct, then the only other place the tablets could be contained was inside the 4th pill bottle. I have tried this and 8 Sulfadiazine tablets fit perfectly into the bottle. By the way, FM 21-11 has a mistake in the component list for these tablets!! They state the tablets are .5-grain dosage, but they are actually 7.7 grain/.5 gram tablets. So the put .5 grain instead of .5 gram for the dosage!!

 

I have included various pictures of my latest kit and show the Sulfadiazine tablets in an unlabeled pill bottle. BTW. I would love to find out if anybody has a labeled pill bottle for these tablets and see what it really looks like. Lastly, assuming my speculation is complete, the only component I do not have yet in my kit is the 100 tablet bottle of 10 grain salt tablets. If someone has this component for sale, I would give it a good home and pay a very fair price for it.

 

Happy Holidays!!

 

 

Bob Law

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Craig, You are welcome and Merry Christmas!! Getting this kit correct has almost been a long time compulsion for me. I believe the end of my quest may be in sight though, if I am a little lucky.

 

Bob

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  • 3 weeks later...
craig_pickrall

Bob, I think this thread may have gotten overlooked in the Christmas rush. I remembered it and started to see what I could find to help answer your questions.

 

I have a lot of photos of random medical items that I have taken but never edited. I went through those this morning but do not have either of the bottles you are looking for already photographed. I know I have a lot of those black pill bottles but whether I have one labeled for sulfa remains to be seen. I will start a search through the boxes. The salt tab bottle does not ring any bells but you never know. I will see if I can find anything.

 

In addition to the JFAK roll shown in the manual FM 21-11 the only other good info I know of is what was included in the OSS books. I'm sure you know of that but in case you don't I will include it here.

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Hey Bob here is my M1 jungle first aid kit I believe it to be unissued as it came wrapped and sealed in paper.

All the bottles are dated 1942 as well as the carlisle bandage. It has one empty unmarked pill bottle in position

#7 The sulfadiazine tablets are in the small brown cardboard box. There are eight tablets inside sealed in paper.

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craig_pickrall

That is an outstanding kits. Congratulations!

 

Was there a first aid instruction pamplet included? I have info that says one should be in the large flap on the angle end.

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The pamphlet is not in my kit. I did'nt know one existed untill the pictures you posted Craig !

The only thing I can think of is because the kit and its useage is described in the medical manuals

the US did'nt include the booklet in their kits ???? Here it is out and open.

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Here is my M2 kit

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Autorifle, WWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!!!! Now that is what I am talking about!!! Fantastic kit with many surprises compared to the content list in FM 21-11. Cootie Powder, TWO 1 ounce bottles of SKAT insect repellant, an empty pill vial and no adhesive compresses (bandaids). Very Interesting!! Thanks so much for being my sanity check on my quest to complete my kit and could I ask you a big favor. Could you take closeup photos of the pill vial labels, the SKAT insect repellant, the foot powder can and the salt tablet bottle label and box text. I would like to keep these in my reference library.

 

Craig, Thanks for juicing the topic again. We really hit the jackpot!!

 

 

Thanks in advance!!

 

 

Bob Law

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I got a complete kit in a large estate group from a dumpster picker about 15 years ago. In addition to having everything in it, it also had several bamboo pieces with taped ends marked "Opium". Inside was a white, powdery substance, I assume it was 50 year old opium! Might have been historical, but that's one piece of historical stuff with enough legal questions to make a quick trip BACK to the dumpster! The rest of the kit was fine though, and untouched. The buyer of the group is a forum member, if he still has it he can post it up. The veteran was a US artillery officer who worked as an advisor to the Nationalist Chinese during the War.

 

Dave

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craig_pickrall

Here are some more pics for the pile.

 

First up are the only labeled black plastic pill bottles I have found so far. These were in an un-messed with WW2 Medic Bag.

 

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craig_pickrall

Here are two examples of the roll kit. The shorter one is the MSA kit as discussed in this thread.

 

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Autorifle, Don't know if you saw this in the reference section, but here is my M2 kit exactly as it came right out of the original box. The Frazers being evaporated was the only surprise I found, after I opened the box for the first time in 60 years.

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The Frazers being evaporated was the only surprise I found, after I opened the box for the first time in 60 years.

That is a surprise for a sealed vile bottle. Werido Frazer's solution bet that works a treat...

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  • 1 year later...
armysoldierant1944

Hi Bob,

 

 

The contents of your M2 kit looks similar to mine. How many Stickbands did it have? Mine has 12. Looks like there was just one packet of Sulfadiazine tablets in yours?

 

Regards,

 

 

Richard

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