Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 12:
Description
SCARCE WWII K-Ration Breakfast Unit, Patten Food Products, Early Plain-Box Type. U.S. Army Field Ration K, Breakfast Unit, packaged by Patten Food Products of Chattanooga, Tennessee – an early-war plain unbleached cardboard carton, circa 1942-1943, with one end flap opened. This lot offers an original K-Ration Breakfast Unit in the early-war plain-box format, printed directly on unbleached pasteboard in the sober, utilitarian style that preceded the more colorful 1944 ‘Morale Series’ cartons. No separate biography attaches to a ration carton of this kind, of course, but the object itself is a document – a tangible survival of the logistics and nutritional science that sustained the American soldier in the field, its printed panels preserving verbatim the instructions and contents list as issued for front-line consumption. Developed under the direction of Dr. Ancel Keys and the Subsistence Research Laboratory of the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, the K-Ration was conceived as a compact, calorie-dense individual meal for paratroopers, mechanized units, and assault troops who could not rely on a field kitchen. Issued in three daily units – breakfast, dinner, and supper – the ration was designed to be carried in a pocket or pack and eaten cold if necessary. The carton’s printed security instructions speak directly to the realities of combat: soldiers were advised to save the inner waterproof bag for matches or cigarettes, and to conceal discarded cans and refuse with dirt, foliage, or sand so as not to reveal their position from the air – a small but vivid detail of frontline discipline. The plain, unbleached cardboard carton is printed in black block type: the principal panel reads U.S. ARMY FIELD RATION K / BREAKFAST UNIT above the security instructions, while the reverse lists the contents – K-1 biscuits (energy crackers), K-2 compressed graham crackers, a can of ham and eggs (cheese furnished as an alternative), an envelope of soluble coffee, a fruit bar, three lumps of sugar, a package of four cigarettes, and a stick of chewing gum. Both narrow end panels and the base are marked
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