P-38 Can Opener

The P-38---Can Opener

By Harold Ratzburg

It was developed in just 30 days in the summer of 1942 by the Subsistence Research Laboratory in Chicago to fill a special need. And never in its 66 year history has it been known to break, rust, need sharpening or polishing. Perhaps that is why many soldiers, past and present, regard the P-38 C-ration can opener as the Army's best invention ever.

C-rations, with their metal cans, have long since been replaced with the more convenient MRE's (Meals Ready To Eat) in their plastic bags, but the fame of the P-38 persists, thanks to the many uses stemming from the unique blend of ingenuity and creativity all soldiers seem to have. The P-38 has been used as a screwdriver, knife, all kinds of things.

The most vital use of the P-38 however, is the very mission it was designed for. The P-38 was the access to the soldier's food: that made it tops in the hierarchy of needs. The soldiers discovered it was an extremely simple, lightweight, multipurpose tool   In warfare, the simpler it is and the easier access it has, the more the soldier is going to use it. It was the means for eating most of the time, (good old C-Rats), but they also used it for cleaning boots and fingernails, as a screwdriver, or whatever, you name it. They carried it on the chain of their dog tags or their key rings all the time

According to what I have read, the tool acquired its name from the 38 punctures it required to open a C-ration can. Another story I have read is the boast that it performed with the speed of the World War II P-38 pursuit plane. I doubt if it had any connection to the German P38 pistol of that war. In the US Navy, it was known as a "John Wayne".

Shown in the photos is the one I "accumulated" when I went into the Air Force in 1950, (My Gawd, that is 58 years ago now!) It has a permanent place on my old dog tag chain as a memento of past service. Also shown are two P-38s, still in their paper envelopes, as they were issued and enclosed in a box of C-Rations to be issued to the troops. The newer ones, in the envelopes, were made by "Shelby Corp" in case any collector is interested. They are also marked with the US stamp, as shown on my old WW II model.

I am sure, that out there, somewhere, is a collector of P-38s with all their manufacturer markings. I haven't met the collector yet, but I would like to. He or she is my kinda guy!!

Collecting these little things is easy because they are certainly easy to carry around or show off. They do not take up a lot of space, like for instance a jeep fender or whatnot. They are still not obsolete, because variations of them can still be seen in tools that are sold in camping goods stores like "Campmor", and "Sports Authority". They are not easy to find however. Most people think that they are rather common, and not really collectible, but now that hopefully, I have piqued your interest, just try to find one. Good Luck!!!!

Sequel

    Back in January when I wrote that article on the WW II can openers, I wondered if I might meet a collector with more information on the P-38's. Well, wouldn't you know it? No sooner had my piece about the P-38 can opener come out, than a reader wrote
(in far more polite words that these) "Hey Dummy, did you think to try the Internet via "Google" to see what you can find? There is a lotta stuff on P-38's right there." I must admit that being an Old Geezer and certainly NOT a computer Guru, I had not somehow, given it a thought.     Oh well-----?!?!?.
    So---- if you would like to follow up with the complete P-38 story on the Internet, try Google-ing P-38 and check out the full story.
    However, for other Old Geezers like me, that are not that computer literate, I'll try to summarize the information for you so you won't have to go near that damned computer.
The web site was put together by a guy who collects P-38's, and other collectors have added their input. According to the counter, over one hundred thousand people have checked out the web site.
    Following are some interesting tid-bits that I pulled out of the web site Article.
    1. It seems that older WW II vets used P-38's sort of like the Challenge Coins that are popular today. If you showed your P-38 to another Vet, and he whipped his out and showed it to you, it meant that you both had been there and done that in the war. In fact, some P-38's were actually dated 43-44. Nowadays, with MRE's (Meals, ready to eat) being the norm in the service, present day GI's could be called MRE Soldiers, especially by guys who collect the P-38's.
    2. There are 35 stories about the P-38 opener on the web sit that were submitted by other people interested in the little gadget. My favorite is from a Nam Vet who was captured by the Viet Cong. He had his dog tags taped together with the P-38 between them and when he was captured, the VC guys, four of them, stripped him naked but let him keep his dog tags as they marched him back to their rear for interrogation and imprisonment. They built a cage for him out of bamboo and vines and forced him to carry it on the march during the day so they could stuff him into it over night. Watching for his chance, one night he worked with his P-38 and was able to cut himself out of the cage while the four VC's were sleeping. They had carried the GI's loaded M-16 with them, and once out of the cage, he was able to get his hands on it and put those suckers down, get his clothes back, and hike back to American territory. Shows what a handy little gadget it can be.
    3. During WW II, the P-38's were made by 3 or more different producers, and they made millions of them. At first twelve openers were included in each case of C rations, but the soldiers found them so useful, that they started wearing them on their dog tag chains or key rings, so the government cut back and enclosed only four P-38's in each case.
    4. The P-38's were called that because it supposedly took 38 cuts to open a C Ration can. American GI's, being as inventive as they are, organized races, to fight the boredom between the periods of being shot at in combat or sitting around doing nothing in rear areas, to see who could open ration cans the fastest .
    5. There is a list of 38 things that the GI's found they could use the P-38's for. It included adjusting the carburetor on their jeeps, (it makes a handy small screwdriver), cleaning fingernails, scraping mud off their boots, adjusting the gap for a jeep points in the distributor, (like a match book cover was often used) or setting the gap for a jeeps spark plugs. The list goes on and on.
    6. The P-38 had a Big Brother, called the P-51. It was about twice the size of the P-38 and was made for kitchen help to open more and bigger cans. Being twice as long, it gave more leverage and made the job easier.
    7. The web site shows the drawings that were submitted to the patent office when the P-38 was designed for the US Army. And---wouldn't you know it,---it shows that similar type openers have been made by a whole bunch of other countries, including but not limited to Sweden, Belgium, Israel, Dutch, and even Germany, who in the 1940's had a P-51 type opener marked "Kamerad". The French had a P-38 type opener to equip their armies way back in 1910 and 1920. It appears that the "inventors" could have done a little more research before they started, to make their job a little easier. Or maybe they cheated and that is how they came up with their idea to submit for a patent.
    8. The handy little P-38 has been found to be a real survival tool. It was issued with pilot survival and life raft kits to open the canned rations. In these modern days, relief organizations have been handing them out after disasters when people need to be fed. Think about it, it does not require a wall plug for electricity and it is very easy to maintain and operate in any shelter.
    9. The P-38's official designation is "US ARMY POCKET CAN OPENER' or 'OPENER, CAN, HAND, FOLDING, TYPE 1'. It is also known as a "John Wayne" by those in the Navy and Marines because good old John was shown opening a can of C-rations using a P-38 in a WW II training film. From then on the Sailors and Marines referred to the opener as a "John Wayne".
    As collector, you will find that P-38's are still available commercially, in fact I will give you an address at the end of this article where you can order them by mail. But somehow, to a collector, buying one through the mail is not quite as satisfying as finding one on a chain, with original dog tags from a vet, at an estate sale, militaria show, or flea market.
    As a word of caution, be advised that P-38's have been confiscated at airport security check points as a deadly weapon, kinda in the same category as confiscating the metal knitting needles from a little ole 79 year old grandma to prevent her from high jacking a 747. Common sense does not rule in bureaucracy, so check your P-38 before getting on a plane.


                          copyright 2009, Harold Ratzburg