U.S. Marines line up for chow served in the jungle of Guadalcanal in January 1943. The World War II battle for the Japanese-occupied Pacific island lasted from August 1942 to February 1943.

By Marlene Parrish
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Originally known as Decoration Day, a time to honor and decorate the graves of the men and women who lost their lives serving our country, Memorial Day has also come to be the official beginning of summer's picnic and grilling season.

As a salute to both our military veterans and our obsession with food, we talked about food with men and women now serving, as well as with veterans of earlier conflicts. We asked them where they served and what they were served -- specifically, "How was the grub?"

WORLD WAR II

	John Neville

Commander John Neville, retired, V.P.B. 961 Anti-submarine Warfare Squadron, lives on Mount Washington.

"ON DEC. 7, 1941, I was playing bridge in the frat house at Westminster College. We had the radio on. When we heard FDR's speech saying, 'This is a day that will live in infamy,' that was the first we heard of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The speech profoundly affected us; we were aghast.

By January, our campus was flooded with service recruiters. As a group, we said, 'Let's sign up as naval aviators. That's the cream of the crop.'

From 1943 to 1946, I was stationed in the Pacific, deployed to a tiny coral reef island, Palmyra. We were only eight officers and about 50 enlisted. I flew PBY air-sea rescue aircraft and TBFs, torpedo bombers. I was the pilot, with a radio man and a gunner. Sure, we were shot at by the Japanese, but our planes were so well-built that we were not knocked out. I had friends who had to jump.

After an operation, we'd return to the island. Our skipper wore wings, but he was afraid to fly. True! He was sort of a Captain Queeg type. While we were gone, he'd have one of the seamen take him out fishing. We'd fly back to a dinner of freshly caught fish. That was the first time I had fresh tuna and shark steak.

We also had this little skinny guy, a chief gunner's mate, who liked to wade out into the surf and catch langusta by hand. They're sort of like king crabs. We'd cook them up in kettles, fresh out of the ocean. We felt bad for the poor guys in the trenches eating rations. I never saw them."

KOREA

	Jim Dever

Sergeant 1st Class Jim Dever, retired, 24th Infantry Division, lives on Mount Washington.

Ask a veteran of World War II, Korea or Vietnam if he still has his John Wayne and you're likely to get a laugh and a knowing smile. Originally issued in 1942 with the official designation "Opener, Can, Hand, Folding, Type I," the tiny can openers are still an inventory item of the military. But nobody calls them that; they're either called a P-38 or a John Wayne. They are small, cheap, lightweight and versatile, don't rust, don't break, pollute or wear out and need no external power source. The design includes a hole, so it can be worn on a dogtag chain. The original P-38 was so named because it would open a can of C-rations with just 38 punctures. Its other alias came honestly too, because the original training film demonstrating its use was narrated by John Wayne.

"I DON'T KNOW of any mess halls in Korea. It was so mountainous, it was hard to get food to the troops. We ate lots of C-rats, mostly canned wiener chunks and beans and ham chunks with limas. I wore my John Wayne on my dogtag chain. Everybody did. Or, you'd get in line, take your utensil, dip it in hot water to sterilize, then get back in line and move until somebody ladled some food into the utensil. But I best remember one Christmas when I was on a troop ship. Because we crossed the international date line, we ate two Christmas dinners, one worse than the other."

VIETNAM

Sgt. Dennis Petronko, retired, 101st Airborne, lives in Upper St. Clair.

Before heading off on patrol into the Vietnam jungle, troops made sure they had a good supply of C-4 explosive compound. The plastic explosive could blow up, say, trees in a landing zone or bridges or tunnels where the Viet Cong might be lurking. C-4 is inert unless activated by a blasting cap. But if a solder pinched off a bit, and lit it with his Zippo, he could get a good flame going -- just the thing to warm up coffee or Charlie rations. A C-4 fire required great care, because if the resulting flames were stomped on to extinguish them, the combination of heat and compression was enough to set off an explosion.

"I WAS SQUAD leader in a reconnaissance unit in 1970-71. We were dropped by helicopter into the jungle, where it was our mission to find out where North Vietnamese troops and supplies were coming in. Watching the screens on our small ground radar sets, we'd identify areas and call in artillery or air strikes. At one time, I didn't leave the jungle for 103 days.

We were carrying about 100 pounds in our rucks -- food, ammo. We had no tents. We'd make a tent-shelter using two ponchos and some sticks. When we were in the jungle, maybe eight or 10 of us, we'd take C-rats or 'lrrps,' short for long-range reconnaissance patrol.

These 'lrrps' were freeze-dry foods, where you just add water. But that was the problem. We had to find the water. Even though I carried 1 1/2 gallons in a collapsible canteen, we were always on the lookout for streams or rivers. We'd add a purification tablet or just drink it straight or boil it.

The only way to heat the water was to take apart one of the claymore mines we carried for defense. We'd light just a little piece of the C-4 and use it to heat water for packages or coffee.

We'd arrange with a helicopter to get an airdrop of supplies every 10 days -- mail, food, clothes. It would hover 4 or 5 feet off the ground for five minutes max, then be off. Sometimes they'd drop a case of beer and a chunk of ice. Ice doesn't last long in the jungle. But it takes only a minute to cool down a beer in a hurry when you roll it over the ice.

The hardest thing about the jungle was keeping quiet. We were close to the DMZ and had to be silent, no jingling, so I wore my P-38 on a chain around my neck and my dogtags on my belt. Occasionally, we'd run into a village. Because of earlier French influence in Vietnam, there would be a bakery, and we could buy fresh French bread."

VIETNAM

Colonel Mike Phillips, retired, 21st Tactical Air Support Squadron, lives in Fox Chapel.

"I WAS IN the service for 26 years. In 1972, as a captain in Vietnam, I was forward air controller to direct fighter aircraft and mark their targets. We were about 30 minutes outside Saigon at Tansonnhut Air Base. Because this was where all incoming air traffic came, our meals were really good. The officers' club was served by Vietnamese chefs.

My dad had quite a different experience. He was an army cook in World War II. Because he ran a mini-cafe before he went into the service, he was assigned to cook and baker school. He was with the 6th Armored Division at the front, and challenged with cooking for hundreds of GIs. To scramble eggs, he'd crack them two-handed into 55-gallon drums.

He was also part of the unit during the first days of German liberation. Often, a German farmer would find his pantry "liberated" of brandies, chickens and other food too. My dad had homemade jams and jellies brought to him, and he'd top pancakes with the liberated sweets."

KUWAIT/IRAQ

	Sgt. 1st class David Beals

Sgt. 1st class David Beals, 99th Regional Readiness Command, lives in Coraopolis.

"I'VE BEEN IN service for 20 years, 14 of them active. I was in Kuwait and Iraq from June '04 to June '05. I was in charge of the finance office, which was actually more of a pay tent.

Everybody loves the money guys, so we ate very well in mess halls most of the time. But there was little time to eat. We'd pick up food in disposable trays and carry it back to the tent. But by the time you got there, the food was cold and crunchy with sand. I think I lived on peanut butter and saltines."

AFGHANISTAN

Sgt. 1st Class Marlene Samuel, 99th Regional Readiness Command, lives on the North Side.

In the military, the "brown bag lunch" is the MRE, for Meal Ready to Eat, the food consumed during training and in combat. MREs are often the only meals troops in the field have available for the first days or even weeks of deployment. They are designed to have a shelf life of three years at 80 degrees or six months at 100 degrees. Each one contains an entree, side dish, pastry, snack, drink mix and accessories. The food tends to be familiar, geared to comfort and what might be served at home, not in a restaurant. MREs come in 24 or more different menu choices. Because they are for people on the move, they are designed to fit into the cargo pockets of field uniforms.

	Sgt. 1st class Marlene Samuel

"WE WERE BOOTS on ground on June 24, 2002, at 11:30 p.m. in a sandstorm. I remember exactly, because it was my daughter's birthday. She turned 1 year old that day. I was called to active duty when she was 10 months old.

Luckily, I had only a six-month tour. I'm an LPN, licensed practical nurse, and I was the ward master in the Intensive Care Unit at our 44-bed hospital tent at Bagram Air Base.

We worked 12-hour shifts, 24/7. The first three months were tough, and we ate mostly MREs. We used to call that "The Afghan Diet" because you were guaranteed to lose weight. We had to walk a half-mile to the mess tent. Sometimes our nutritionist would make the trip and fill a box with food to bring back for us because we couldn't leave our patients. Then a contract food service came in and the food improved.

But by the time you wash, wait in line and grab food, the meal was cold and always, always had a garnish of sand. The path to the eating tent was littered with food on the ground that had blown off plates. What I missed most was fresh, cold milk."

IRAQ

1st. Lt. Annette Sabado, 630th Transportation Company, based in Washington, Pa., lives in Bulger.

"Poguey" is a slang term for a person in the rear of the action who has access to goodies such as candy bars and snacks. Many soldiers stash "poguey bait" in their rucksacks, and it is a welcome respite from routine meals.

	1st. Lt. Annette Sabado

"I'VE BEEN IN the service for 17 years, and I've been as close as any female ever gets to the front line in Balad, Iraq. The way I tell it to my two 6-year-olds is that 'I've had lots of interactions with the bad guys.'

I was away from home for 18 months. I was in charge of convoys and we were dropping off and picking up supplies. I'm 5 feet, 1 inch, and weigh about 108 pounds, but I've logged a good 1,500 miles as the driver of 18-wheeler tractor trailers. When suited up in full battle rattle -- flak jacket, helmet, double ammo -- I carried about 3/4 of my body weight.

I've seen a lot of mess halls. We were in a mess in Anaconda that was nicknamed "Mortarville" because it was struck three times, once a few days after we'd been there. I've seen, literally, green eggs and ham, but I had my share of steaks and lobster, too. After a year eating in mess halls, you see the same food over and over. I never want to see curried eggs again in my life.

On post, I could have three hot meals a day, but when on the road, you might take a week's worth of MREs. I chose not to eat MREs. My husband and family would send me packages with poguey bait, so I always had trail mix, homemade cookies, bread and jerky. For the most part, though, the food was decent, good and varied."

IRAQ

Sgt. Stephanie Edinger, Military Police Officer, 99th Regional Readiness Command, grew up in Freeport and now lives in Coraopolis.

Up to and including World War I, troop rations included unprocessed foods such as flour, rum, salt, beef and dried beans. By the time America entered World War II, rations were more standardized and more environment-based. Two familiar rations introduced at that time were C and K rations. C-rations consisted of six cans of ready-to-eat foods, including meat, vegetables, dessert, crackers, sugar and coffee. They were considered too bulky for mobile troops, so the K-ration was created to cater to the needs of, say, paratroopers and tank crews and other soldiers who depended on mobility for survival. Both were used to feed troops in Korea and Vietnam. In the 1980s, C and K rations were replaced by MREs. A-rations are fresh foods that require on-site preparation and are served at bases and established camps.

	Sgt. Stephanie Edinger

"I HAD BASIC training, then job training. I got my rites of passage as an MP on Sept. 11, 2001. I was deployed to Kuwait and Baghdad in April 2003.

When we first got there it was 105 degrees, and we were in full gear. You know you have to eat and drink or you get sick. It was so hot, all I could eat was cornbread.

Our platoon took over a police station, and we guided the Iraqi police. We were proud that we did a great job helping them to improve their initial response time. Then we went to the LSA Dogwood base in Baghdad where we did sweeps for Improvised Explosive Devices, or IEDs. That means we were sent in advance of a convoy to look for trouble and land mines.

The cooks tried hard to make meals good. Besides the mess, we ate C-rats. There were eggs and hot dogs in a can that were awful. Later we got A-rats which were really good -- things like chicken fajitas and chicken Parmesan. My mom sent packages of cup-a-soup, and I'd add water from the back of the truck that was so hot, you'd think it was microwaved. We'd set out jars of sun-tea and it would be done steeping in five minutes. I missed ice cream. But most of all, I missed Eat'n Park milkshakes."

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Bran muffins for an army of 100

Military cooks knew the mess had to keep the troops moving, and they accepted and fulfilled that mission in every way possible. These muffins were staples of the Korean conflict.

Rations:

• 5 (14¹/₂-ounce) cans evaporated milk
• 3 quarts water (for milk)
• 6 quarts bran
• 1 quart granulated sugar
• ³/₄ quart shortening
• 24 eggs, beaten
• 6 quarts flour, sifted
• 1¹/₃ cups baking powder
• 8 tablespoons salt

Orders:

Mix milk and water. Add bran; soak about 10 minutes. Mix sugar and shortening; stir until smooth. Add beaten eggs; mix well. Add soaked bran; mix well. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together; add to bran mixture, stirring only until dry and liquid ingredients are combined. Spread in greased muffin pans. Bake in hot oven (425 degrees) about 20 minutes.

-- "How to Feed an Army: Recipes and Lore from the Front Lines," by J.G. Lewin and P.J. Huff