World War II Mess Kit - History 

Ya put the canteen in the cup and then the cover slides on, makes zero noise. Most people ditched the knife in the mess kit, sometimes the fork also. The spoon (and fork if kept) were wrapped in cloth. Again makes it make zero noise. That came from my grandpa who served in the Korean conflict. I have dozens of these things. Something thats kinda rare is the pouch for the mess kit. I have 3. Grandpa used to buy extras of all his gear and later on gave us 2 grandboys all his old gear.

It may or may not have been an original design feature, but soaking the canteen cover in water did provide evaporative cooling. A down side, however, was that the wet cover could lead to irritation/chafing, not a problem when wearing a field jacket, but miserable directly against a single layer of clothing. Also, the two components of the Ness kit could be carried open with one hand, using the latching arm as a support for the divided plate. Note that the full (undivided) plate was never intended to be used as a skillet. The history of the cutlery is an interesting story in itself.

It’s called a canteen cup because it fits over the bottom of the canteen

Mess kits have their own pouch or bag. It has individual pockets for the utensils so it won't make any noise. Also the canteen cup does not make any noise when placed inside the canteen pouch.

YOO DUDE, THE CUP FITS OVER THE BOTTOM OF THE CANTEEN, WHICH FITS INTO THE COVER.

Good video! The utensils were wrapped in a cloth or a pair of socks & put in the kit...no noise...the cup was put in the cover & the canteen on top of that...canteens were normally kept as full as possible because sloshing canteen water violated noise discipline...the cover was the most worn looking item of a soldier's equipment due to its constant use, including wetting down to keep the water cooler....as many soldiers carried 2, sometimes the canteen covers were used to carry extra ammo, especially if a tough firefight was expected....

I used this type mess kit, in Nam, 1970. But the food actually came from C rations (B units) 12 meals to a big box. I liked them.

Well it's not about they ditched the mess kit because of noise and weight. It's because they been told by their commander that the fight will be less then a day or few hour's. But they found out the hard way and had to fight without ways to get food nor drinks during their battle. Same mistakes when they say to the soldier not to take their rations as well. So yeah it's not because of noise or weight

Little FYI The soldiers didn't ditch their mess kits. They went with the field kitchen and it did lighten his load

Also the same makers name .I wouldn't be without it HIKING or CAMPING it's my companion mess kit forever.👍👍👍

Bingo! I've got that same canteen cup. And I live in Scotland. I use this canteen

to stop the rattling they use to put the kfs rapped up in a sock ,good vid tho good effort

I used to put my Fork and spoon in a sock to keep it from rattling I never carried the knife since I already carried my buck knife with me.

However, I don't remember actually having the opportunity to cook. We eat straight from the can. Coffee was a luxury, because you had the opportunity to heat the water!

Is there lead in the canteen and cup? I have some but never drank out of them because I didn’t know and didn’t want to accidentally get lead poisoning

What a name for a site. Funny reading his books. Magic was real lol Cheers

i found that alll

your fondling of the canteen cover got more than a little creepy!!!

As for keeping utensils quite it's common sense. A old sock or garment WRAPPED up. Problem solved. I AM sure plenty MARINES in the Pacific had those problems taken under control.👍Bon. Appetite 🥗🥓