Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/06/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]SPAM is a Hormel product, developed immediately before the advent of the Second World War. The US military glommed on it big time: it is SPiced hAM (how cute!) comprised of junk bits of pork left over from the conventional processing of pigs -- Scrapple has been described as "all of the leavings of the pig save for the oink", and SPAM comes close to this same stature. For non-USians, SPAM is heavy in fat, salt, and all sorts of similarly unhealthy items. It is also capable of long storage in cans and can be readily held for distribution to troops. Now, for a story. My father wintered over in Alaska from 1942 to 1943 in command of G Battery, 543rd CA (AA) at Fort Randall, a small post of no special strategic significance, its main raison d'etre being the existence of an emergency airfield. On the day before Thanksgiving, 1942, the Navy pushed a supply convoy through with the assistance of ice-breakers, as the bay was rapidly freezing up. They unloaded the supplies for the next five months, and sailed off. The next day, the entire post (which also included an Infantry battalion, an Engineer company, an Airfield squadron, and a small hospital, and not much else) had the customary military lush Thanksgiving Day feed. And, as the troops belched out their repast of turkey and all the fixin's, the reefer warehouses burned down, the fresh frozen food all being destroyed in the conflagration. The first reaction was that of the Post Commander, who raked my father over the coals, as a number of his troops (all from his Radar Detachment, a section of the 258th CA (AA) from Chicago attached to his command only on his despatch to Alaska) had been spotted looting copper piping from the ruins -- there interest was in the use of said piping in the construction of stills to produce drinkable alcohol and, yes, this led to complications at another day and to the near-death of a junior officer, but that is a tale for a different time. The second reaction was from Alaska Command, which simply advised the Post Commander that he had adequate canned food and to rely on that during the time when the post was frozen in. The meat portion of this was, of course, SPAM, for the most part, and, so, Dad survived on three meals of SPAM a day for some five months. They did fly in a decent Christmas meal but, for the rest of the meals, the guys survived on a diet of, well, as Monty Python did say, "SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, and SPAM". Dad's second-in-command, when I knew him in the 1950's, would not even allow the word to be said in his presence, while the next-senior officer only began eating it again in the 1970's. Mom liked SPAM but would normally only seve it when Dad was working or teaching a class. I enjoy SPAM and eat it from time to time, generally with some fried eggs on the side, but I can never eat it without recalling my father's heartfelt horrors about the monotone diet he endured for that one winter. (Dad's Radar Detachment had another distinction, in addition to their interest in alcohol distillation. These guys were from Chicago but all of them were Puerto Ricans, and Dad, naturally, assigned a northern Minnesota lieutenant as their Platoon Leader, a fellow Scandanavian enough to have spent summers in Norway before the War. As the Radar Detachment was stationed outside of the unit, this Lieutenant instructed his men in cross-country skiing, so they would make quite a sight at Mess Call, a group of swarthy, short Hispanics gliding effortlessly across the snowfall to the Mess Hall. I have Dad's movies of this, all shot, of course, on Kodachrome 25, and a hell of a sight it is -- these folks were GOOD.) Marc msmall@aya.yale.edu Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir! NEW FAX NUMBER: +540-343-8505