Not just any old Mess Tins

These British mess tins were given to my father in the late 1940's by a friend of the family who had served, for the whole of WW2, in the British army, from the start of WW2 until the end. I don't believe that he did anything particularly remarkable while serving his country; he was just an ordinary person trying to do his bit. The interesting thing about these actual mess tins is that they went to France with him in 1939 with the BEF and were with him when he evacuated off the beaches of Dunkirk. He used them throughout his WW2 service and were with him when he hit the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. He then used them on continental Europe until the end of the war.

Some British soldiers did return with their personal kit from France in 1940.

I believe that my father used them for camping for a while, before realising that they were of too much historical significance for that.

Could anyone tell use if the British army still use this style of mess tin, or something different, please? I have seen these tins with relatively modern dates on them.

I don't believe anyone still uses them. We were probably last to turn them in and yes, mine are here somewhere. I use mine for casting bullets though, they take the hot lead bullets nicely.

hi they tell a good story on there own

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

I don't believe anyone still uses them. We were probably last to turn them in and yes, mine are here somewhere. I use mine for casting bullets though, they take the hot lead bullets nicely.

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Jim, if your mess tins are of Canadian manufacture, I wondered if it would be possible to post a photo of the markings, please?

Still issued in UK, although now only used for heating hot water, to either heat your rations or for shaving, after heating your meal the hot water is used for a brew/or shave........ personally only use them for shaving in the field, I use a a 58 pattern water bottle metal cup for rations and brew (own purchase) as the old hexi cooker had a optional thin steel plate with a cut out for the metal cup.

They are good for camping etc, I used mine for some fine cuisine when I was Normandy this year, best corned beef hash I've ever had......... good for cooking the French equivalent of beans and sausage too.....

I think these are a set of cast off UK that I found in Wainwright after BATUS troops departed in the '80's. If I still have a set of CDN I'd have to dig a bit to find them. I'll look...here's the ones I have.

Remember RSM, they're used for casting bullets not show parade...

Aluminium was only used for them for a short time in 1938-39, as it became reserved for the aircraft industry, so early ones like that are quire rare now. Most wartime ones are tinplated steel (the tin melts when you try to fry things in them and molten globules of tin roll around). In 1945 they started to make them out of aluminium once again.
The maker is apparently N.C. Joseph of Stratford-on-Avon.
Pattern 1937 Web Equipment

They make excellent tins for roasting in the oven, cooking on the stove, etc; pity the wife didn't agree often enough.

I do have some more modern 1950's examples (UK made) of these mess tins that we used for camping in the 1970's 80's. They were just our normal cooking utensils for camping.

We were always told in the PARA's to conserve water because what you carried was it!! and the time it took to boil water.
Would you believe many British soldiers and units never realised that when you boiled water out in the ooloo, the smaller mess tin was designed to sit in side the bigger one to save the time it took to boil the water..................."another bit of useless information".
Other units of course had loads of water in Jerry cans so didn't probably care much about conservation or survival!!

Didn't know about these but found a nice set on ebay made in 1945 I have coming. Thanks for the tip. I've been slowly gathering canteens and mess kits since I'm running out of bayonets and helmets.