GI Ingenuity

by Mel Oldham
1943-45

GI Ingenuity

During our campaign through Luzon in 1945 we received a shipment of beer and every one was issued two cans. The problem was that it was hot. We had no ice or refrigeration and nobody liked warm beer. We also had some DDT aerosol canisters with a needle valves on top.

GI ingenuity and physics classes took over. We filled a steel helmet about half full with gasoline, put in two or three cans of beer, cracked open the needle valve on a DDT canister and turned it upside down to bubble into the gasoline. In a short time there was frost on the outside of the helmet and the beer was cold. No smoking was allowed within 20 plus feet of the project and there was no concern about the DDT.

Mel Oldham, HQ, 2nd, 35th, 1943-45