I was stationed with MACS-3 in 1956 at an isolated radar base on the east coast of Korea. In the chow line one day a Marine ahead of me asked the Mess Sgt. “What’s for dinner?” The mess Sgt replied “Owl sh-t” The Marine replied “Oh I thought it might be something we couldn’t eat.”
In 1958 I was stationed with MACS-8 at OpaLaka (Miami, FL). The chow was usually OK except when we had a siege of old C-rations. One day we had liver, which few fellow Marines ate. The next day burgers were on the menu which we all thought would be great! Except the liver left over from the day before was ground into liver burgers. Ugh!
E.K. Pennington, Sgt. 1530714
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I know the “Mess” can be very creative but,that is a bit disgusting. I can remember eating spaghetti soup somewhere and breakfast hash from ingredients from yesterdays dinner. Liverburgers!? I’ll take some “HAM & MFs thank you !! Harry
I just remembered where I had the “Spaghetti Soup” It was the mess hall at the Highland Drive VA in Pittsburgh back in 95′ Sorry! Harry
In the mid 60’s I was stationed at the Marine Barracks Charleston Naval Base. Our mess Sht took advantage of our location and regularly bought local seafood . On many occasions we had numerous naval officers from the adjacent naval hospital show up to buy lunch.
Thats Gore Met compared to camp Schwab in Oki-Shit Hole-nawa …I dont even KNOW what that krap WAS…..
I was at Camp Schwab in 1966 and ate at the first chow hall on the right past the main gate. They had really good chow as I remember. The worst chow hall that I ate in was at Camp Geiger when in ITR. Luckily we had peanut butter and jelly. I pulled a week on night mess duty there before our platoon formed and I couldn’t even find any good food anywhere in the building.
When at PI our platoon pulled mess duty at the rifle range. I remember opening 4 gallon cans of various veggies. The date on the cans was 1944. This was in early 1972. We all laughed as the chow we we’re eating went into the cans before we we’re born. I laugh at the expiration dates in grocery stores to this day!
I was at the RR at Parris Island in October 1956. I had screwed up during the day and the D I, Corporal Burke told me to report to him after chow. I did! He told me to go and get a needle from my sewing kit. I did. He said Connly,do you see that screen door? Sir! Yessir! Count he holes in it using your needle! Don’t try counting down and then across and multiplying! (As if) I know how many holes there are! After 5 minutes he said Conny! What’s the count? Sir! 184 Sir! He kicked the door! What’s the count?! I lost my place! This went on for about an hour! Count! Kick the door! The whole Platoon was laughing their ass off except for the guy who was scrubbing toilets with his toothbrush! How can I remember this and I can’t find my car in the Walmart parking lot?! Burke by the way was a helluva nice guy! A good D I and a good Marine!
Back during Vietnam I was with task force Robbie or Mike (I can’t remember which) at Cam Lo fire base. The chow line consisted of bread, warm tuna, (not tuna salad) and warm cool aide. We went to the skipper and requested “C” rats as that would be an improvement. The chow improved slightly but we still would have preferred the C’s. That was still better than the day I arrived at Cam Lo and they sent me down to get some grub. We got incoming and the chow tent was hit while I was in line. We dove into some trenches filled with water, and mud but few guys were injured. It turned out that 1/9 was there, they lived up to their title of ” The Walking Dead.”
Memories of MCRD SD mess hall in 1958. You spot an empty table at lunch time. You sit down and reach for the metal pitcher and heft it to see if it contains Kool-Aid. Great, it feels heavy. You start to pour Kool-Aid into your cup and out tumble brussel sprouts and other varied pieces of disgusting veggies that the recruits previously at that table didn’t want to eat but couldn’t get past the “eat everything on your tray” guard at mess hall exit hatch.
Arthur, I was also stationed at NWS, Charleston in 1970-7,but I don’t remember any seafood. The chow was pretty good though. I thought it was a great duty station since I was from Chattanooga, TN.
Arthur, I was also stationed at NWS, Charleston 1970-71, but I don’t remember any seafood served. The chow was pretty good though. I thought MB NWS was a great duty station as I was from Chattanooga, TN.
In 1967 I was on Hill 55 about 15 miles SW of Danang and we had all sorts of folks coming by for lunch at the 7th Marines messhall for some reason we were getting all sorts of lobster items and they were great! On the other hand in Okinawa in the 70’s a friend was always talking about “Red Death” in the chow hall today. Some of the guys asked what that was and I told them it was Corned Beef.
Going thru boot camp MCRD SAN in 1950, the guys at the table were complaining about the size of the fried chicken….must have been a scrawny one they complained. Some of the country boys popped up, and said that’s rabbit, not chicken. Several of the boots wouldn’t eat any more. YUK! It really wasn’t too bad.
I was with Mike 3/5 in ‘Nam in 1967. I can’t remember which operation I was on, but we were in the mountains, west of Que Son, near Laotian border. Weather was bad and we were looking DOWN on the clouds!..Normal, every three-day supply ‘choppers’ with C-rats , ammo, supplies and SPs/Sundry Packs were socked in for five days. We lived off of the dried rice, tortilla-like, wafer-like, “bread” that we found in abandoned villes. We also ate wild, sweet, “finger bananas”, and the bitter-sweet, pineapple-like fruit we called “pineapple” that grew above ground, on a plant sililar in appearance to a Meguay’ Cactus, and on a stem, upside down, and the size of one’s fist before skinning. Couple of times we made “Mulligan Stew” by choice and a couple of times ny necessity.
one thing that I never got used to was “CHILI MAC”. It looked like what we called goulash in Wisconsin, but it had chili powder in. It was terrible, and they fooled me every time!
chicken fried in bacon grease, Camp Talega 56. sf
The first time I walked in to the all ranks mess at Kwang Ju, Korea (USAF/ROKAF) I thought I had walked into a fine restaurant. In my short eight years in the Corps I got to experience everything but being shot at. Loved the southern fried rabbit, hated some of the C-rats, didn’t mind eating at a field kitchen, and absolutely loved eating in the Sergeants Mess at RAAF Amberly in Australia. The best Navy chow I had was at NAS Glynco in Brunswick, GA. Why is it that we can remember the food so well?