Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 7:
Description
VIETNAM WAR: 1966-Dated MCI C-Ration Shipping Box, Southern Pkg. & Storage Co.. Empty Meal, Combat, Individual (MCI) fiberboard shipping box, Southern Pkg. & Storage Co., Contract No. DSA-130-14311, dated MAR 66, Lot 29 – a stenciled logistics survivor from the Vietnam-era ration supply chain. This lot is a genuine U.S. military outer shipping carton used to transport canned combat rations universally known to GIs in Vietnam as "C-Rations, " despite their official 1958 redesignation as the Meal, Combat, Individual (MCI). No separate published history attaches to this particular box; its interest rests entirely in the printed record it carries – manufacturer, contract number, date of production, and packing specification, each still clearly legible. Manufactured by the Southern Packaging & Storage Company of Mullins, South Carolina, a Defense Supply Agency (DSA) contractor, this carton was one of countless thousands produced to move canned field rations from stateside packing plants into the pipeline supplying American forces throughout Southeast Asia during the height of the buildup years. Built to the V2s solid fiberboard standard under specification PPP-B-636-C, it was engineered to withstand monsoon humidity, rough handling, and long transit through a logistics chain stretching from CONUS depots to forward supply points in-country. Boxes of this type carried a full case of canned MCI meals – meat units, bread and dessert cans, and accessory packets – sustaining infantrymen in the field long after fresh rations became impossible to deliver. The March 1966 date places this example squarely within the rapid expansion of U.S. ground operations that year, though no unit or deployment can be documented for this specific carton. The heavy corrugated box is of folding-lid, sleeve construction. One long side bears the bold printed stamp "SOUTHERN PKG. & STORAGE CO. / CONTRACT NO. DSA-130-14311 / DATE MAR 66 LOT 29." An adjoining end panel carries a large printed "C, " the "V2s" grade mark, an International Paper Co. box-maker’s certification stamp dated "1-66," and the compliance line "COMPLIES WITH SPEC. PPP-B-636-C." An interior flap preserves separate factory printing for the folding box and sleeve, including Stock No. MCN-8115-J19-1354, gross weight, an International Paper Co. attribution, "FOR: MEAL, COMBAT, IND., " and its own internal "LOT# 12" – a distinct component-lot marking not to be confused with the shipping-lot number on the exterior. The carton is entirely empty, retaining its flaps but no inner ration cartons, tins, or accessory packets. Surfaces show honest age toning, scattered tape residue, minor abrasions, and edge creasing consistent with field handling and long storage. "C RATIONS" is hand-inked in period marker over old tape on one end panel, and portions of the interior flap printing are partially obscured by tape and wear. A plainly dated, contractor-marked remnant of the everyday supply chain that fed American troops in Vietnam – modest, but genuinely evocative of the war’s unglamorous logistics.
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