C-Rations: What We Really Ate in Vietnam (1969)

Every year on my birthday, a cardboard box shows up on my front porch. No note. Just a can of peaches, a pound cake wrapped in wax paper and a little bottle of hot sauce. This is the story of who sends it, and what we really ate in Vietnam. I'm Walt "Sarge" Harlan, drafted in 1968, Vietnam 1969-70. The C-ration box and why you never got to pick your meal, the P-38 can opener we wore on our dog tag chains, ham and lima beans (the meal nobody wanted), beanie weenies, peaches and pound cake, heat tabs and tin can stoves, the Charlie Ration Cookbook, trading with village kids for a warm Coca-Cola, and the birthday cake a big gentle Cajun named Hoss carried for nine days in the jungle. Chapters 0:00 The box on my porch 1:16 PART 1 The Box 3:16 PART 2 The John Wayne 4:22 PART 3 Ham And Limas 6:35 PART 4 The Stove 8:45 PART 5 Trading Day 11:46 PART 6 Peaches & Pound Cake What was your favorite C-ration meal, and which one did you trade away? Tell me in the comments. New here? Press Subscribe on your TV remote or under the video. A new story every week. My Scam-Proof Field Manual, Strong After 60 and the Write It Down memory journal are at sargeharlan dot gumroad dot com. Footage and photo credits Archive films (U.S. government, public domain, Internet Archive): Activities of the 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile) I Corps (1969), 101stAirborneAirmobile Operation Muscatine (198th Lt Inf Bde, Americal Div) (1968), 111-lc-54555 Search And Destroy Mission (3d Bn, 47th Inf, 9th Inf Div) Long An Province (1967), LC-51896 Christmas In Vietnam (5th Bn, 12th Inf, 199th Light Infantry Brigade) (1968), LC-53771 1st Infantry Division footage (1968), gov.archives.arc.31818 The Airmobile Division (1966), gov.dod.dimoc.20234 A Day in Vietnam (1967), gov.dod.dimoc.23444 Screaming Eagles in Vietnam (1967), gov.dod.dimoc.30205 The Ninth Infantry Division, gov.dod.dimoc.30226 Photos (Wikimedia Commons and Openverse, public domain unless noted): Soldiers of the Communications Section, 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) eat C rations (PFC Kenneth L. Powell) Members of the 2nd Platoon, Company C, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry open C-rations during Operation Delaware (PFC Kenneth L. Powell) Special Forces medics pass out candy to village children during a MEDCAP near Dak To (SP4 Gilley) Marines Enjoy a Hot Meal in the Field, 1969 (20118583183) (USMC Archives from Quantico, USA), CC BY 2.0 Company A, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry soldier reads a letter (Spec. 4 Burt W. Peterson) 5th Battalion, 12th Infantryman reads in a bunker at Firebase Libby (SP5 Phillip Smith) Company D, 3rd Battalion, 8th Infantry soldier eats chili from a Long Range Patrol ration supplement during Operation Macarthur (SP5 Ronald F. Delaurier) Marines Open C Rations, 1969 (28715226444) (USMC Archives from Quantico, USA), CC BY 2.0 MCI B-3A (Bevo444), CC BY-SA 4.0 MCI C-ration, klicka - display DPSC - commonwealth n8710j90j (U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center) 19th Infantryman loads mermite cans containing Thanksgiving dinner at Camp Enari (SP5 Gilley) Mess Sergeant gives candy to children on a medcap (SFC Robert C. Ambrose) Special Troops USARV Long Binh Post rain 1969 (Donald Albury), CC BY-SA 3.0 US Army MRE Vietnam 1969 (William Starner (1948-2015)), CC BY-SA 3.0 P-38 Can Opener (Jrash of the English Wikipedia and colour adjusted by Themadchopper of English W) Cases of C-rations and ammunition are stacked on the Pleiku airstrip (SP5 Allan K. Holm) Company C, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry machine gunner rests on a rice dike (SP5 Robert C. Lafoon) Company D, 12th Infantryman sits on his home made chair eating his Thanksgiving meal at LZ St George (SP5 Gilley) Stock video (Pexels): ROMAN ODINTSOV, Anh Nguyen, Cyrus Photography, Andre Mouton, TR Studio, Ron Lach, CESAR A RAMIREZ VALLEJO TRAPHITHO, Matias Luge, Pavel Danilyuk, Erik Mclean, Yaroslav Shuraev, ArtHouse Studio, Maciej Cisowski, Kampus Production, RDNE Stock project, suellen baker, Nothing Ahead, SHVETS production, Kmeel.com Videos, Tom Fisk, James Cheney, Michael Bao, Street Donkey, Coverr