Off Topic: Canteen cup lids

[Pat Holscher]

I didn't know that there were canteen cup lids:

https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hph ... e=555336B3

[Brian P.]

Those Coast Arty guys get all of the cool gear! That's gotta be some kind of "trench art".

[Pat Holscher]

That photo is an upload on the Wyoming Veterans Museum's facebook page. Here's the data on the photo and those that go with it:

The Wyoming Veterans Museum is honored to announce that we will continue to tell the Reverend Leonard Robinson's story.

Leonard passed away on December 9, 2014, 73 years and a day after the fateful Japanese attack on December 8, 1941 at Clark Air Field in the Philippines that drew him into World War II.

Leonard was Wyoming's last know survivor of the Bataan Death March.

Today the Robinson family entrusted Leonard's military estate to the Museum. Immediately notable are the mess items he possessed while in captivity at the Marutzu Prisoner of War Camp in Niigata, Japan. They were his favorite items to share with students over the countless years he told his story at Wyoming schools. One of the items (pictured below) was his, the canteen. The other items he came into possession after their original owners died while in captivity. They include a canteen cup with lid, a meat can, and a Japanese issued rations bowl.

The Robinson family acknowledged that these items are not the possessions of one man, but represent the entire body of servicemen who died as prisoners. They stated that these are "National Treasures". The Wyoming Veterans Museum wholeheartedly agrees with their statement.

The Museum has interpreted Leonard's story for many years. We will reinstall his exhibit in February 2015 and showcase many of the items in his collection, which have never been publicly exhibited.

[Pat Holscher]

Canteen:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 6437ef7f33

https://scontent-a-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hph ... e=556085B9

Japanese bowl and mess kit:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 597158f407

The mess kit is probably a WWI vintage kit. There was still one of that pattern in my Guard unit when I was in during the 80s.

[Brian P.]

Wow! I never got around to looking up the 515th CA until now. I didn't know that they were part of the Defense of the Philippines. That does give those artifacts much greater significance.

There was a large amount of WWI issue gear still in the supply system early in WWII, especially in the Philippines. The familiar mess kit with the compartmented lid was a 1932 model, but didn't really go into production until early in WWII because of all of the WWI mess kits in the system. Similarly, the familiar black plastic lids on the canteens come about in around 1942.

[Pat Holscher]

I posted a link to that on the WWII list and it seems to be the consensus, although not the undisputed consensus, that the lid is not a standard item, and perhaps something made in the POW camp.

[wkambic]

I posted a link to that on the WWII list and it seems to be the consensus, although not the undisputed consensus, that the lid is not a standard item, and perhaps something made in the POW camp.

This was my thought. How would this fit into a standard canteen carrier (mounted or dismounted)? Is there any evidence that there were any "experimental" items like this developed?

[Pat Holscher]

I posted a link to that on the WWII list and it seems to be the consensus, although not the undisputed consensus, that the lid is not a standard item, and perhaps something made in the POW camp.

This was my thought. How would this fit into a standard canteen carrier (mounted or dismounted)? Is there any evidence that there were any "experimental" items like this developed?

Some of those on the WWII list recall seeing an item like this in the 1960s or 70s, although they are a minority. A net search reveals canteen cup covers that are new made to be a surprisingly common camping item today, which I wouldn't have guessed, but I couldn't find anything to suggest any surplus ones exist or that they were ever official, which of course doesn't mean that they weren't.

I've wondered how they would have been carried as well, but then of course you have the mess kit to carry as well so I suppose you could dump it in there (and increase the rattling).

[Todd]

Nice bug cover...

[Couvi]

I once did an exhibit on Prisoners of War and one of the many items that were received in loan for the exhibit was mess kits from a dozen different countries. It seemed to be the thing they hung on to the most. Most had some identifying marks and names on them.