John Blackshoe Sends: Serendipity History – A Cup Filled With Bitter Memories - WW2 Trench Art Canteen

Source- Author collection and photo

American soldiers have carried water in canteens for several centuries. In earlier years they were wooden, miniature casks, more or less. By the 1850s, canteens were tinned pieces assembled with lead solder, and in 1910 the Army adopted a one quart design in aluminum (sometimes stainless steel or plastic, or enamel coated steel) which lasted for about 50 years. About 1960 it was replaced by a similar shape in green plastic, with lawyerly advice for idiots “Don’t heat over a fire” embossed in it.

Along with the canteen, the clever Army folks designed a cup with a folding handle which fit snugly over the bottom of the canteen and both pieces carried in a felt lined canvas pouch which attached to the pistol belt or rifle cartridge belt.

WW2 Poster showing canteen cup in use 

Source - Public Domain

Like rifles, many canteens and cups were made but “this one is MINE!” and the water from canteens was literally a life saving commodity. Some people collect military gear for its historical value, and others simply see it as cheap utilitarian stuff suitable for camping or Boy Scouts.

The Army (and Marines) frowned up on troops personalizing their Government Issue (GI) gear, as it belonged to Uncle Sam, not the soldier, and when they no longer needed it, the gear would be issued to some other poor schmuck. So, don’t mark it up or you will pay for it, said the Quartermaster types. Of course the Poor Bloody Infantry about to be shot at, were not concerned much about the Quartermasters, and did as they darn well pleased.

I recently saw this WW2 canteen set, and pulled it out of the canvas case for the first time Unlike others I had seen, where sometimes later generations of Boy Scouts had marked them up, this has a LOT of probably authentic WW2 “personalizations,” which collectors loosely refer to as “trench art.” In addition, someone had cut off about ¼” around the entire top edge of the canteen cup, which is usually a rolled over or flared out design. Perhaps to make it easier to slide in and out of the cover, as the flared lip made them really tight.

Source - Author collection and photo

Sadly, the warrior who marked this up did not include his name, but clearly noted where he had been.

The back of the cup is marked Bougainville (in script) with initials R W in a box, over Co. H and “42” 44. Presumably these are a place the owner served, his initials, partial unit, and dates of service. One side of the cup is marked Guadalcanal (in script) over block lettered NEW CALIDONA [sic], NEW ZEALAND, and the other side has Fiji, Munda and Rendova (all in script) over block lettered NEW GEORGIA.

Both Army and Marine units had ties to those places, mostly involving combat, although New Zealand was likely a logistics or recreational visit. I don’t know enough about those campaigns to try to narrow down the unit(s) involved, so will just leave this as a memento created by an American fighting man. Perhaps the markings were done after their combat tour was over and they were headed home from the Pacific theater, with several weeks of boredom in a jam-packed ship during Operation Magic Carpet where every type of ship had every available space filled with homebound troops.

Undoubtedly, with that many campaigns, the owner had lost some friends and seen unpleasant sights, so this cup would have been full of bitter memories. I render a salute to him, and those who served with him in those places.