Something to give away

Now we are drifting into Compo Bog Paper!

Re Compo Toilet Paper, which was smoth on both sides,

Its most common nickname was

ARMY FORM BLANK

Matchs with strickers were included in the tins:

Matches & Sweets (Boiled)

Hardrations wrote:

I'm sure that's what was issued to us in BOAR.

Perhaps Canadian Rations had differant paper?

Or you are confusing it with the rolls of 'Government Property' paper used in the blocks etc...

Mike_2817 wrote:

Hardrations wrote:

I'm sure that's what was issued to us in BOAR.

Perhaps Canadian Rations had differant paper?

Or you are confusing it with the rolls of 'Government Property' paper used in the blocks etc...

That's it Mike. I was thinking after, that it was the issue we got in barracks. But that changed in 66. The Cdn. Govt. decided we had too tender a bottom to use the BOAR issue.

Thanks for the Franklin info Mike. I had been watching one of those TV programmes, probably "Horizon", they were using steam hoses to get to the bodies I mentioned previously. The men were all in a preserved state but one of them looked like he'd died in extreme terror. I can't remember which expedition the men who died were on, it might even have been the Shackleton one. The programme concluded that, at the time of the expedition, food canning was still in it's infancy and the lead solder had contaminated the contents. In this instance they never mentioned any fault in the ship.
It occurs to me that this particular bloke's facial expression may have been the result of them being told they were going over to Canadian "Bum fodder" !

brum wrote:

It occurs to me that this particular bloke's facial expression may have been the result of them being told they were going over to Canadian "Bum fodder" !

So it was a scream of thankfullness not a scream of terror.

What genius ever came up with the idea of using this stuff for human...uhm...hygiene???? Yeesh.

As mentioned several months ago in some other stream, the German civilian issue was bad enough, at least that used in public facilities (it was possible to purchase fairly decent (i.e. soft!) TP in German shops), but the army-issued stuff....dreadful.

The German civilian paper, as I recall, was like wax paper. I vaguely recall using 'the facilities' while on base a few times and being exposed to the Canadian wipe which was a tad 'rough' but I suppose just chalked it up to TAI (typical Army Issue).

What I do remember, with frightening clarity even 30+ years on, was the first time I used the facilities at Cornwall School.

Now, keep in mind I was a 17 or 18 year old Canadian kid trying to adjust to a completely foreign school environment (the accents, the having to wear a school uniform, the curriculum, the style of teaching (the curriculum was to prepare students for the inevitable 'O' and 'A' level exams and based on those exams, whereas the Canadian system was more about having exams based on what we had learned)) and struggling a bit with all that.

I already felt like a fish out of water with no touchstones anywhere, really. So, trotting off to the WC and finding these itty bitty rough, waxy, bits of paper to 'tidy up' with....well, it was just one more "Ohhhh geeeez....what is this about??" moment!

As it was an era before the ubiquitous backpack being lugged to school I don't remember if I started packing my own supply of 'decent' wipes or not....really no place to keep a roll without it being obvious. I remember the first encounter but the rest -- like if and how I adapted -- I have no idea.

Well I had my own roll of 'Comfy Bum' in my locker in the 70's and always took some to work and on exercise with me. It was quite common to do so, but NOT Pink, we had our standards LoL

On a rather large exercise somewhere in Germany we were cammed up in some woods operating a rebroadcast station.

One day a section of American infantry came by and we started comparing kit etc. I reluctantly offered them our coffee which was by their standards pretty awful but they accepted. I offered sugar and they were amazed that it came in a can. They had tiny sachets of sugar such as you get in motorway cafes etc. "A whole can of sugar?" exclaimed the corporal, sergeant or general whatever he was? I then offered him chocolate/boiled sweets, "A whole can of candy bars?" was his next amazed comment. I was rather enjoying myself that we actually had better stuff than they had and thought of the poor Brits during the war who begged stole or borrowed from the yanks. Nice bit of role reversal. Got any gum chum?

Must say that at the yank HQ we went to later in the exercise, the coffee they had on tap was marvellous stuff.

One night in barracks in Deilinghofen a young L/Cpl went mad throwing a roll or two all over the barrack room, we were all enjoying this escapade when he set a match to it. Geez's it was like gasoline. It just flashed up. After that little scare, Old Bill, a Signalman from WW 2 roundly clued him in as to what sort of loser the lad was. T'was a good lesson about just what bum wad was all about.

My next tale will be about Sig. Poof Peltier and his fun with blank rounds.

Teabag wrote:

Must say that at the yank HQ we went to later in the exercise, the coffee they had on tap was marvellous stuff.

while not specifically "military" this anecdote of Teabag's reminds me on one of our first visits to my dad's cousins in South London my parents were offered a cup of coffee. Now, my mom was a coffee drinker and while she didn't mind tea was pretty much sick of it by then

To this day I have no idea where or how my British relatives learned to make coffee but it was dreadful....first off, my mom drank her coffee black (ugh!) and the relatives added cream and sugar...lots and lots of sugar. Secondly, they did some weird thing with the coffee itself. As I recall, it wasn't perked (percolated) and certainly wasn't dripped as this was decades before personal coffee makers could be found sitting on every kitchen counter of the Western world. They boiled it or some such outrage LOL Or heated the milk/cream and then added the coffee.

Now, I was only about 6 or so at the time so this whole story is a re-telling of mom's story over the years....

Mom took one sip of the 'coffee' and said for years after it was all she could do to actually swallow the stuff. I take it it was totally vile.

"So, how's yer coffee, then?" she was asked.

"Uhm....not bad...would you like me to show you how we make it?"

"Oh yes, that would be lovely!"

So mom set about making coffee and she and my Aunt Nell (well, she was actually a cousin but I called her Auntie) sat down and had coffee.

"Ooooh....I must say that is quite nice, isn't it?" My auntie said. "We could never understand what the attraction to coffee was...but this! Oh, I quite like this!!"

Well, little wonder they couldn't understand the attraction Canadians and Americans had for coffee when they did the horrible things they were doing to it!!!

Me? I drank tea up until about age 30 and only tea. I am now, however, a committed coffee addict (and, yes, I take cream and sugar in it).

Bit off topic but I have been photographing war graves in our local cemetery to be included in a war graves website. I found one today from 1916 and wonder how he ended up here? Proper war grave with maple leaf and not just entered on a family memorial.

Pte W Entwistle. 43rd Battalion, Canadian Infantry. 26th June 1916. Age 21.

Stephen, Perculated Coffee was not a big thing in the UK as in the US or Canada and 'Instant Coffee' is still popular over here.

Please do not judge the UK by your standards.

And just for the record Costa Coffee & Starbucks sucks...

Teabag wrote:

Bit off topic but I have been photographing war graves in our local cemetery to be included in a war graves website. I found one today from 1916 and wonder how he ended up here? Proper war grave with maple leaf and not just entered on a family memorial.

Pte W Entwistle. 43rd Battalion, Canadian Infantry. 26th June 1916. Age 21.

Teabag, I found 5 Entwistles with the initial W. His stone should have his Regt. No. can you send me that. There's a chance he died of wounds in a local hospital, or accidentaly while on leave from the front while training.

The 43rd Canadian Infantry Battalion was organized in December 1914 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel R.M. Thomson under authorization published in General Order 86 of 1 July 1915. The battalion mobilized and recruited in Winnipeg.

The battalion embarked at Montreal on 1 June 1915 aboard GRAMPIAN, disembarking in England on 9 June 1915. Its strength was 40 officers and 998 other ranks. The battalion arrived in France on 20 February 1916, becoming part of the 3rd Canadian Division, 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade. It was later reinforced by the 14th Canadian Reserve Battalion. It returned to England on 11 February 1919, disembarked in Canada on 20 March 1919, was demobilized on 24 March 1919, and was disbanded by General Order 149 of 15 September 1920.

The battalion colours were presented by Sir Arthur Currie early in April 1919 and deposited in St. Stephen's Church, Winnipeg, on 20 April 1919. The battalion supported both pipe and brass bands.

The 43rd Canadian Infantry Battalion was perpetuated by The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada

Hello again Teabag !
According to the CWGC website he's-
153171 Pte ENTWISTLE William
43 Bn Canadian Infantry (Manitoba Regiment)
26 June 1916
Age (24)
Son of Peter Entwistle 7, Ormonde St
Liscard
Wallasey (Wallasey Rake Lane Cemetery)
Regards
Brum

brum wrote:

Hello again Teabag !
According to the CWGC website he's-
153171 Pte ENTWISTLE William
43 Bn Canadian Infantry (Manitoba Regiment)
26 June 1916
Age (24)
Son of Peter Entwistle 7, Ormonde St
Liscard
Wallasey (Wallasey Rake Lane Cemetery)
Regards
Brum

Thanks Brum. That's why he is buried in Rake Lane, Liscard then. Suppose he must have emigrated, joined up, got wounded, casevac to England where he died I presume? Had he been killed over there then he would have been buried in France or Belgium surely? Lest we forget. RIP.

Would that website be The War Graves Photographic Project, mate?

brum

This one http://www.britishwargraves.co.uk/ as opposed to this one http://twgpp.org/index.php or are they both the same?

I am not too happy about the second one (if not the same) charging people for photographs. If it is for charity then okay but if someone is making money out of other peoples efforts and at the expense of an ex service persons memorial then it is out of order.

Alan

I felt the same Alan, when I realised what was going on I stopped sending stuff in, still carried on taking pictures though.
They're supposed to have joined forces with the CWGC now but I think people still have to pay.
I've taken over a thousand pictures in this part of Cheshire.
Have you been involved with RAOGK (Random Acts Of Great Kindness)? It's a setup in the US, people email you asking you to look for their ancestor's headstones, that can be interesting.

brum

brum wrote:

I felt the same Alan, when I realised what was going on I stopped sending stuff in, still carried on taking pictures though.
They're supposed to have joined forces with the CWGC now but I think people still have to pay.
I've taken over a thousand pictures in this part of Cheshire.
Have you been involved with RAOGK (Random Acts Of Great Kindness)? It's a setup in the US, people email you asking you to look for their ancestor's headstones, that can be interesting.

brum

Can you email me the link please Brum. Googled it but there seems to be a few and I don't want the wrong one. Sounds like a good scheme and something to keep me interested. I sent you my email address yesterday asking for you to send that photo. Haven't got it yet so OC's orders tomorrow morning for you my lad!

Finished off Rake Lane cemetery today. Some interesting stuff came up including a mention for the captain of the Lusitania, a war grave from the first war which also mentioned his dad who fought in the Crimea and the Indian Mutiny. I love it.