Packages from Home

[Ivan the Butcher]

I was thinking about the packages my mom would send her brother when he was in Vietnam. I also thought about the packages we sent to our son in Iraq.

The thing my uncle wanted most was anything to flavor the water! So, we sent Tang, Kool-Aide, instant coffee, & tea bags. The second most requested item was cans of Calumet baking powder. (To make biscuits! sold a dollar a dozen to fellow marines and a dollar each to Army personnel.

Mom baked cookies and stacked them in Pringles cans. The first time she made 3 or 4 types of cookies as a test on what would ship best and most appreciated. (Oatmeal Raisin won the test). 6 tubes of cookies, 3 stacked cans of baking powder, a jar of instant coffee and a jar of Tang. That was the foundation of the monthly package. Two magazines were wrapped around the baking powder, one magazine around each jar or cookie tube. The slots between each wrapped item were filled with packets of Kool Aide or tea bags. Some magazines were bought, but most came from the pile at the barber shop. (I think every barber in the 1960's was a WWII vet! and gladly sent their newest magazines)

To our son in Iraq a typical box contained: a few dozen cookies (oatmeal w/M&M's) and a cake we always take camping "College Coffee Cake". Also about a dozen toothbrushes and several small tubes of assorted toothpaste. A few car and gun magazines and lastly his favorite candy: "Gummy Bears" along with every other gummy like candy, about 5 pounds worth. When he came home on leave after his tour, he told us that the heat melted all the gummies into one big ball! It was a hit! They would pass the gummy ball around and everyone would take a bite, until it was gone!

Please feel free to share what you got or sent to the Combat Zone.

Ivan

 

[F4phantom]

Mostly it was stuff that would not perish in the heat and monsoons. One package contained bug spray. The only problem was after spraying the bug, it got up and walked away.

 

[grover99]

I would send my good buddy a box of Hava-aTAMPA CIGARS once a month . I think that was the name of them the little cigars with the wooden tips. After all Vietnam. Was a few years back. His parents would send him all of the regular goodies, but they wouldn’t send him the cigars

 

[mckenney99]

We used to have a young man that serviced our pop machine at the patrol post. He was in the Marine Reserves and his unit got called up for one of the Desert Storms. About once a month I would put out the call and everybody at the post would bring in items and I would pack up a USPS Large Priority Mail Flat Rate box and put a card signed by everybody with personal messages right on top. Every box was different but we tried to include the items he wrote that he wanted/needed and couldn't get at the base. This went on for almost a year before his unit was rotated back home. He made a point of coming back to the post at each shift change to personally thank each and every member of the post.

After I was retired and was working in a local gun shop, I became friends with a USAF Security Police Sergeant and he got sent to Afghanistan for a 6 or 9 month deployment. I made sure to send him a care package every 3 to 4 weeks. Every package included a selection of small vacuum sealed packages of ground coffee, gum, candy, Mechanix Gloves, socks and I made a point of hitting the $5 DVD bin a Wal-Mart for the worst/funniest movies I could find and anything else we could pack in the USPS Large Flat Rate Box. He later informed me the DVDs were a HUGE hit and they got passed around to different units who held their own "bad movie" nights. The female clerk at the local post office was always amazed at how much stuff/weight I could get packed into one of those boxes (packing is kinda my thing). Rich's birthday happened to fall while he was deployed so the local Wal-Mart bakery fixed me up with a huge chocolate chip cookie that was decorated as a birthday cake and that was packed tightly into his standard care package with small items & cards brought into the store by other friends/customers. It was amazing how generous our customers were at helping to fill each box. (We are proudly a military town.)

When Rich finally got home, he walked into the shop and presented me with an American Flag in a display case that was flown on 3 different missions with crew signed certificates. It is one of my most treasured possessions.

 

[lkabug]

It was a real treat to get those goodie packages. A tremendous moral booster.
If you have friends deployed a package from home means so much.

 

[JRB416]

Two stories I would like to share

As a young boy I remember my mom sending packages to her two brothers and my dad's younger brother all serving in Vietnam. Mostly baked goods and small items like gum etc. My dad's brother, Don, really liked her fruit cake and it seemed to keep for the long journey over there. He served three combat tours in Vietnam. Don would come and stay with us between deployments and I loved his visits. I realize now he must have been under a lot of stress but at the time it was another visit from my favorite Uncle Don. One Christmas he went with my dad and I to cut a tree. When we got back he helped decorate it as well. Don always had a very fast car and we traveled with him back home to Virginia a few times. Dad would come down and pick us up a week or two later. He was always very respectful and careful when my mom, sister, and I were in his car.

The second story is before my time but very dear to me. My mom's older brother Edward wanted to serve during WWII and was afraid the war would pass him by before he was of age. He somehow managed to join the Navy at 16 years old and became a plankowner on the USS Franklin (CV13). He was on the ship throughout its entire combat service and was KIA on March 19, 1945. I have many letters sent to my mom and my grandmother (his mom) and many mention the cookies and care packages they sent to him. He shared with his fellow sailors because he mentioned how his buddies appreciated the treats.

I've included a few pictures. The box he kept, and was one of the packages sent by my mom. The braided cord was something he was working on around the time of his death. I have other things that belonged to him but I think the most precious are the letters. I like to find a quiet place and read them from time to time.

This thread is a great reminder for my wife and I to start supporting care packages again.

 

[grover99]

Reading about using the flat rate boxes makes me wonder how the boxes held together when shipped over seas. I have been picking up the mail for a friend who has been out of town for the summer and when I have enough mail I sent it to her in a medium flat rate box. I tape it up very well using very strong packing tape but every time the box gets to Calf from MO it looks like it has been run over by a train. She sends me pictures of the box and it is surprising that anything is still in the box because it is in such bad shape.

 

[mckenney99]

I discovered that it didn't really matter what you sent. Most packages got broken up upon arrival and divided among everybody in the group. If you sent something they didn't want or need, someone else would love to have it. My friend would send lists of things the guys in his squad wanted or couldn't get and who didn't have anyone to send them things. I think we got as big a kick putting the boxes together as the guys did on the receiving end.

 

[S&W Fan]

During my son’s multiple deployments in Iraq and A’stan I would send Girl Scout cookies-lots of boxes to share with the others-baby wipes were popular, toothpaste/toothbrush, protein bars, dvds and video games in the days with limited Wi-Fi and good socks.

On his first in 2005 I found a fairly inexpensive acoustic guitar at Guitar Center and they took care of packing it really good. He left it with the unit taking over from his 18 months later. On another he wanted extra mags for his M9. I called Beretta USA and a cs rep took care of me, sent them-sand cut version-to him through his APO.

 

[Rustyt1953]

My SIL, Ray, screwed his helmet on for 6 years. When our long-time family friend, "Red", found out that Ray had been deployed for a year at Camp Leatherneck/Camp Bastion he would pack the largest box allowable stuffed with various slices of home and send one every month to Ray who shared it with his bunkies. It did wonders for morale.

When Ray was discharged Red threw a grand party for him at a local saloon owned by Red's oldest son. Ray nor I have ever forgotten.

This was "Red":

Jerome Harry “Red” Roettgers (1924-2022) - Find a Grave Memorial

 

[SweetMK]

It was 1971, no one on the ship had ever received food from home.

My sister was VERY thoughtful,, I was the first in our family to EVER serve in the military.

She would have her daughter (my niece) bake cookies,, and send them to me once a month.

She would put the cookies in a big plastic bag, in a big box,,
THEN fill the plastic bag with fresh popped popcorn!!

Well,, the cookies arrived perfect,, my friends and I devoured the cookies,,
It turned out,, the popcorn also arrived fresh,,
(It was only supposed to be packing material to protect the cookies)
After the cookies disappeared , the last kernel of popcorn was also consumed.