Not such a strange place to find it - the British forces stayed after '45 (As the British Army On the Rhine - BAOR) for the Cold War. There's still a presence now, although it's finally drawing down. Bear in mind that the troops didn't "own" the tins, they were just lent them for the duration. One guy could have carried it through WW2, then handed it back in with the war over. Goodness knows how many 2-year National Service men might then have had it before it finally went "Diffy" (missing) and got sold on. Mind you, while the Army is still issuing that Design of tin, you won't find many older! That design replaced an older kidney-shaped one during the "re-arming" phase of the late '30s. (My apologies in advance if you're an old trooper; but I write to be clearly understood by an international audience)
Those things were really made to last (and polish), ..I found a British army jacknife that was dated 1954, that looked brand-spanking new..things were "bomb-proof" in those days!!
Aluminium mess tins were the sort of thing you could always pick on training areas and ranges. I've still got my set that was issued to me in 1977. The aluminium is very good quality. I've got a half set which I've used as a source of aluminium to repair two camera tripods and also make a cruciform pot rest for the top of my Sirram Volcano Kettle: Terry
Interesting Link to military mess tins. I have just found another I have got, googled the number on the tin, and came up with the link above. Interesting stuff.
Ah, yes. And if you're eagle-eyed, the link provides three things. 1) The year of introduction for this rectangular pattern - 1938. 2)A link to another page about the older style:http://www.karkeeweb.com/patterns/1908/1908_associated_tinnies.html Apparently issued without change from the Napoleonic Era to 1938! 3) Finally, a mention that aluminium shortages led to a wartime-austerity pattern in tinned mild steel. The interesting thing about these is that some Americans are now becoming interested in re-enacting British forces in WW2. The websites for these groups are telling their members, "don't cook out of the steel ones! You'll get tin-poisoning and die in agony that very same day" (I exaggerate only slightly). However, even if the steel mess-tins of circa-1941 were a slim minority; how many Tommies brewed-up, cooked their Bully-Beef-&-Beans, heated their shaving-water (and all the other uses the soldiery find for these) on a daily basis during the war without getting ill?! N.B. I had a guy on an Army forum comment (on a threat titled "What's the oldest bit of kit in the Army?" (Apparently it's a 6' table in Aldershot barracks, with a date-stamp from the 1690s!)) that he had a mis-matched pair of mess-tins; one Aluminium from the '70s and a ww2-dated steel inner, "which flew much further than the new one, when the training-corporal threw it in the bushes for being dirty".
I'm afraid I was insufficiently modest - I try to write in as accessible as possible manner, but I go down the path of my own hobby-horse as much as the next man, and that must be quite an obscure metaphor to non-native speaker, itself!
US Mess Kits are and have been made of alum(i)um or stainless steel since WWI, with only minor changes in shapes. I had a stainless GI mess kit with it's knife, fork and spoon from age 11 until I was old enough to vote. I had no idea I was ill equipped. The remainder of my cooking gear was mostly empty tin cans and coat hanger wire and worked wonderfully. I think that old mess kit is still around here somewhere. With all the weird crap valuable treasures I have here, this hovel palatial Thugge Manor would be a wonderful archeological site. Think of the myriad delightfully wrong assumptions some fool with a pith helmet and a pile of alphabet bits trailing his or her name could make from the artifacts rat-holed in this dwelling. Both my Crazy Uncle and my Insane Uncle were in the US Marines, and told me they used their helmets as soup pots, bath tubs, wash and shaving basins, foot baths, rain water catch bowls, water buckets, snow melting pots or just for heating water. They had no other pot to use. Of course, modern helmets are completely useless for those sorts of things, since they're made of resin and glass fiber or something similar. I have a WWI issue M1918 bacon tin made of very heavily tinned mild steel. It lived in my carry box for tools in the shipyard for over thirty years full of small tools, small twist drills, a scriber/compass, raise knife, a striking knife, spare pencils, a pencil sharpener, 4" dial caliper, things of that nature, small with sharp pointy bits or of delicate construction. Nowadays it contains my first aid things for Mt. Man camping. I wish I could get several more. Gerry
