Sun, 1 Apr 2007 12:00:34 -0700 (PDT)
Fellow vets, brothers and sisters, Here is one more experience on the Chow in
Korea. Any of ya'll out there who got left out, this is your chance to voice your
experience. The last bunch of chats centered on the army breakfasts,--some
green ham or eggs which coincided with St. Patty's green clover day. LOL—Julio
Well, here are my two centavos. Personally, I will have to say that I truly enjoyed
ALL Army food (except for one-time liver). I was brought up 365/year solely on
breakfasts of oatmeal, and for lunch and for dinner we had beans, tortillas, and
fideo or rice, potatoes and ceaseless slices of day old bread and plenty of water--
all which was our staple in the poverty of my humble abode. We qualified for
government boxes of rock-hard powdered eggs and milk along with a block of
yellow cheese once a month. Fresh milk and vegetables, steak or chicken, or
other goodies we enjoyed maybe twice a year. To me, the Army cuisine was an
introduction, perhaps an awakening, to a new and enjoyable diet.—Julio
Sun, 1 Apr 2007 12:00:34 -0700 (PDT)
Hi Julio, I have to tell you a short story about chow. We were out in the field and
the cooks would bring us our food from camp. It was below zero that morning
when they brought breakfast and it was so cold that the milk was freezing on our
cereal before we could get it eaten and of course the whole meal was stone cold
but nourishing at least. I have read in the Korean War books about the rations that
were frozen solid and if you ate them you would get the trotts. We had it easy in
comparison.--"ski"
Mon, 2 Apr 2007 16:55:36 -0500
Hello Julio, In response to your article about the food in Korea. First of all, when I
got there in December of 1965, and the first time I ate out in the field, we went to
clean our mess kits in the boiling garbage cans, there was a mamasan with her
baby strapped to her back who would take our mess kits and scrape any
remaining food into a bucket to take home to eat. That kind of gave me a quick
awakening as to what I was in for. I hadn't been to the village yet because I had
just arrived and was quarantined for the first two weeks. I couldn't believe people
lived like that, but soon found out. As for the food, there wasn't too much I didn't
like. I remember drinking coffee out of bowls for awhile. I didn't like any of the
Korea food though. Actually, when I joined the Army, I hadn't eaten so much food
in my life. Like you, growing up, we were very poor and had to scrounge for every
morsel we could. I went into basic training weighing 137 lbs and coming out of
basic training at 162 lbs. But, it was 25 lbs of muscle. Overall, I guess I enjoyed
most of the meals for the three years I was in. I do remember when we had field
exercises at Nightmare range. It was freezing cold, about 25 below zero, and for
desert, they gave us ice cream. Go figure, huh? But those are just some of the
things I remember about the Army chow. That's all for now. Take care.-- Bill
Tue, 3 Apr 2007 05:43:46 -0700 (PDT)
Julio, That austere diet of your youth was probably a blessing in disquise
although it probably didn't seem like it at the time. As a survivor of a five way heart
bypass and coronary heart disease, wish I had learned to eat more sparingly as a
kid. I lived all over the world as an Embassy brat and got to eat the best and
richest of everything: meat at all meals sometimes two or three different kinds and
lacked for nothing. I learned to eat Caviar, oysters on the half shell and truffles. As
it turned out that was not the healthiest thing to do although my parents thought
they were doing the right thing. Everything that kills us here in the good ol' USA is
from too much of things, whereas everywhere else, it's from not enough. Well to
make a long story short I am now doing penance for all my early culinary sins. I am
now on a very restricted diet, if I want to stay alive long enough to see my daughter
married and see my grandkids. I remember hearing once that glutony is one of the
seven deadly sins and boy are they right. I found all food except for a few rare
exceptions to my liking and the Army chow was no exception. I can't remember a
bad meal in the chow hall even the C-Rations were OK.--Your DMZ brother, Merlin
Tue, 03 Apr 2007 09:20:00 -0700
My chow hall memories from BLV aren't particularly good. 702d had our own
mess hall, as you know, and the food had somereal problems ranging from being
just plain inedible to finding roaches in stuff. We were having to bring our mess
kits to eat from because they didn't even have enough plates and cups. It was bad
enough that the Division Commanderstopped by after hearing complaints and
shut it down for a week, relieved the mess sergeant, and had us eat in one of the
infantry mess halls down the hill(1/23 if I remember correctly). When it reopened,
everything had been repainted and cleaned up, there were tablecloths, dishes,
cups and flatware, and the chow was a thousand percent better. Never could
bring myself to eat in the village, though. One of my buddies did and regretted it.
After he got hepatitis from it, healso discovered that the broiled liver he'd enjoyed
used to bark andchase cats in its previous life...
The biggest memory of meals in Korea, though, was the milk. When we landed
at Kimpo, it was dinner time and I got a large glass of milk with my dinner. Took a
big sip and nearly choked on the stuff. No one told us it was going to be
powdered milk! That was the only milk I drank for the next 13+ months. Bad
enough that the drinking water tasted like it came from a swimming pool -- the milk
was like powdered chalk mixed with whitewash. Thank goodness for Fizzies! (For
you younger guys, Fizzies were big fruit-flavored tablets that we'd drop in a glass
of water, and they'd dissolve into a sort of fizzie kool-aid drink. What ever
happened to them?).--Eliyahu Rooff
Tue, 3 Apr 2007 09:22:05 -0400
When I was at JSA-PanmunJom (1958-59) we were attached to the Swiss and
Swede. If those twelve fellows said they wanted Officer Steaks every day, they got
them. Our mess hall was in charge of orders for their food, so our mess ordered all
the food and of course ordered for all. Our food was great except on pay days
which was stew, but the NCO club always fixed a meal that day, which we had to
pay for. We had no Lettuce and we had powdered milk in waxed cartons from
Japan. Also, I had good food before I went into Army. Our duty was great--no field
training, no harassment, and no inspections--if my memory is correct.--Gene
Stewart
Tue, 3 Apr 2007 10:40:31 -0700 (PDT)
Hello Julio,
I also have a similar memory of Korea. I believe we were at the rifle range doing
qualifications living in tents and being in the field were eating chow out of our
mess kits.
I can still remember we had pork chops, mashed potatoes and gravy. We
banged our mess kits into a garbage can prior to washing our mess kits in the
garbage can with the immersion heaters.
Well, mamasan had a cardboard ice cream container and was reaching into the
garbage can with her hands and scooping out all the leftover bones and gooey
mess of potatoes and gravy.
This was back in '62 and I had never seen such poverty. Korea was certainly an
eye opening experience. Amazing, the social and economic progress Korea has
made since then. Fortunes have almost been reversed in many cases.
I had no complaints about Army chow. I went in weighing 135 pounds and came
out weighing 165 pounds.--Henry Buyny
Fellow vets, brothers and sisters, Here is one more experience on the Chow in
Korea. Any of ya'll out there who got left out, this is your chance to voice your
experience. The last bunch of chats centered on the army breakfasts,--some
green ham or eggs which coincided with St. Patty's green clover day. LOL—Julio
Well, here are my two centavos. Personally, I will have to say that I truly enjoyed
ALL Army food (except for one-time liver). I was brought up 365/year solely on
breakfasts of oatmeal, and for lunch and for dinner we had beans, tortillas, and
fideo or rice, potatoes and ceaseless slices of day old bread and plenty of water--
all which was our staple in the poverty of my humble abode. We qualified for
government boxes of rock-hard powdered eggs and milk along with a block of
yellow cheese once a month. Fresh milk and vegetables, steak or chicken, or
other goodies we enjoyed maybe twice a year. To me, the Army cuisine was an
introduction, perhaps an awakening, to a new and enjoyable diet.—Julio
Sun, 1 Apr 2007 12:00:34 -0700 (PDT)
Hi Julio, I have to tell you a short story about chow. We were out in the field and
the cooks would bring us our food from camp. It was below zero that morning
when they brought breakfast and it was so cold that the milk was freezing on our
cereal before we could get it eaten and of course the whole meal was stone cold
but nourishing at least. I have read in the Korean War books about the rations that
were frozen solid and if you ate them you would get the trotts. We had it easy in
comparison.--"ski"
Mon, 2 Apr 2007 16:55:36 -0500
Hello Julio, In response to your article about the food in Korea. First of all, when I
got there in December of 1965, and the first time I ate out in the field, we went to
clean our mess kits in the boiling garbage cans, there was a mamasan with her
baby strapped to her back who would take our mess kits and scrape any
remaining food into a bucket to take home to eat. That kind of gave me a quick
awakening as to what I was in for. I hadn't been to the village yet because I had
just arrived and was quarantined for the first two weeks. I couldn't believe people
lived like that, but soon found out. As for the food, there wasn't too much I didn't
like. I remember drinking coffee out of bowls for awhile. I didn't like any of the
Korea food though. Actually, when I joined the Army, I hadn't eaten so much food
in my life. Like you, growing up, we were very poor and had to scrounge for every
morsel we could. I went into basic training weighing 137 lbs and coming out of
basic training at 162 lbs. But, it was 25 lbs of muscle. Overall, I guess I enjoyed
most of the meals for the three years I was in. I do remember when we had field
exercises at Nightmare range. It was freezing cold, about 25 below zero, and for
desert, they gave us ice cream. Go figure, huh? But those are just some of the
things I remember about the Army chow. That's all for now. Take care.-- Bill
Tue, 3 Apr 2007 05:43:46 -0700 (PDT)
Julio, That austere diet of your youth was probably a blessing in disquise
although it probably didn't seem like it at the time. As a survivor of a five way heart
bypass and coronary heart disease, wish I had learned to eat more sparingly as a
kid. I lived all over the world as an Embassy brat and got to eat the best and
richest of everything: meat at all meals sometimes two or three different kinds and
lacked for nothing. I learned to eat Caviar, oysters on the half shell and truffles. As
it turned out that was not the healthiest thing to do although my parents thought
they were doing the right thing. Everything that kills us here in the good ol' USA is
from too much of things, whereas everywhere else, it's from not enough. Well to
make a long story short I am now doing penance for all my early culinary sins. I am
now on a very restricted diet, if I want to stay alive long enough to see my daughter
married and see my grandkids. I remember hearing once that glutony is one of the
seven deadly sins and boy are they right. I found all food except for a few rare
exceptions to my liking and the Army chow was no exception. I can't remember a
bad meal in the chow hall even the C-Rations were OK.--Your DMZ brother, Merlin
Tue, 03 Apr 2007 09:20:00 -0700
My chow hall memories from BLV aren't particularly good. 702d had our own
mess hall, as you know, and the food had somereal problems ranging from being
just plain inedible to finding roaches in stuff. We were having to bring our mess
kits to eat from because they didn't even have enough plates and cups. It was bad
enough that the Division Commanderstopped by after hearing complaints and
shut it down for a week, relieved the mess sergeant, and had us eat in one of the
infantry mess halls down the hill(1/23 if I remember correctly). When it reopened,
everything had been repainted and cleaned up, there were tablecloths, dishes,
cups and flatware, and the chow was a thousand percent better. Never could
bring myself to eat in the village, though. One of my buddies did and regretted it.
After he got hepatitis from it, healso discovered that the broiled liver he'd enjoyed
used to bark andchase cats in its previous life...
The biggest memory of meals in Korea, though, was the milk. When we landed
at Kimpo, it was dinner time and I got a large glass of milk with my dinner. Took a
big sip and nearly choked on the stuff. No one told us it was going to be
powdered milk! That was the only milk I drank for the next 13+ months. Bad
enough that the drinking water tasted like it came from a swimming pool -- the milk
was like powdered chalk mixed with whitewash. Thank goodness for Fizzies! (For
you younger guys, Fizzies were big fruit-flavored tablets that we'd drop in a glass
of water, and they'd dissolve into a sort of fizzie kool-aid drink. What ever
happened to them?).--Eliyahu Rooff
Tue, 3 Apr 2007 09:22:05 -0400
When I was at JSA-PanmunJom (1958-59) we were attached to the Swiss and
Swede. If those twelve fellows said they wanted Officer Steaks every day, they got
them. Our mess hall was in charge of orders for their food, so our mess ordered all
the food and of course ordered for all. Our food was great except on pay days
which was stew, but the NCO club always fixed a meal that day, which we had to
pay for. We had no Lettuce and we had powdered milk in waxed cartons from
Japan. Also, I had good food before I went into Army. Our duty was great--no field
training, no harassment, and no inspections--if my memory is correct.--Gene
Stewart
Tue, 3 Apr 2007 10:40:31 -0700 (PDT)
Hello Julio,
I also have a similar memory of Korea. I believe we were at the rifle range doing
qualifications living in tents and being in the field were eating chow out of our
mess kits.
I can still remember we had pork chops, mashed potatoes and gravy. We
banged our mess kits into a garbage can prior to washing our mess kits in the
garbage can with the immersion heaters.
Well, mamasan had a cardboard ice cream container and was reaching into the
garbage can with her hands and scooping out all the leftover bones and gooey
mess of potatoes and gravy.
This was back in '62 and I had never seen such poverty. Korea was certainly an
eye opening experience. Amazing, the social and economic progress Korea has
made since then. Fortunes have almost been reversed in many cases.
I had no complaints about Army chow. I went in weighing 135 pounds and came
out weighing 165 pounds.--Henry Buyny
| Chow in Korea Email Chat VI, on Sunday, April 1+, 2007 All FQQL's Day |
| GRENEDA POSTAGE STAMP ON KOREA |
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