geraint Posted 18 March , 2008 Share Posted 18 March , 2008 This really is idle chit chat - but one worth sharing. Interviewing a soldiers' family member, he came out with this story told to him by said veteran. Veteran and another soldier were detailed for a day's work to Brigade HQ (no idea where) but with 11SWB at time. They arrived at the farmhouse, and on approach noticed that the footpath was soft and spongy. They completed their work, and started walking back. On the footpath, they poked about with a bayonet, and the whole footpath had been newly reveted and built of tins of bully and covered with a layer of soil. They promptly filled both rucksacks, and returned to their platoon bearing a slap up meal! Nice little vignette ehh! Geraint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
punjab612 Posted 18 March , 2008 Share Posted 18 March , 2008 Hope they checked the 'Best Before' date! Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-ted Posted 18 March , 2008 Share Posted 18 March , 2008 It's great to hear these tales of what the lads got up to when out of the line, mind you, I would have thought "Hard Tack" could have made a tough wearing alternative to the infamous Pave'. Post your "Bully" recipies here boys and girls but remember the denture fixative before trying the results! Regards to all. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mctaz Posted 21 March , 2008 Share Posted 21 March , 2008 Not bully beef, but when on exercises and living on mess tinned rations we'd often bury cartons of tinned asparagus by the dozen. On longer term exercises I swear we'd bury dozens if not hundreds of cartons (each containing 24 cans) Nobody liked the stuff, it just doesn't go well with "Luncheon Meat Type A" No doubt archaeologists in the future will be greatly puzzled by great caches of tinned asparagus all over rural Australia! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nige Posted 21 March , 2008 Share Posted 21 March , 2008 Tell me where it is, I love the stuff. Nige Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 21 March , 2008 Share Posted 21 March , 2008 Tinned asparagus, eh? So that's what is meant by bush tucker! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geraint Posted 25 November , 2008 Author Share Posted 25 November , 2008 Here's another one. In a letter home, a soldier states that they shored up their dugout "with tins and tins of bully to hold up the roof. I tell you, we never go hungry. It's just like having your own larder..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niimmm Posted 25 November , 2008 Share Posted 25 November , 2008 When my grandfather was in FandG in 1918 he gave his tin of Bully to some starving Germans only to have his sargents rifle put to his head and told to take it off them. He was 18 and as any normal human would do he gave his food to people who needed it, for this Christian act he nearly got his head blown off by his own side. Obvioulsly the Germans stayed hungry as he took away the tin but due to that he threw away his medals and hated the army for the rest of his life. Nim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 25 November , 2008 Share Posted 25 November , 2008 When my grandfather was in FandG in 1918 he gave his tin of Bully to some starving Germans only to have his sargents rifle put to his head and told to take it off them. He was 18 and as any normal human would do he gave his food to people who needed it, for this Christian act he nearly got his head blown off by his own side. Obvioulsly the Germans stayed hungry as he took away the tin but due to that he threw away his medals and hated the army for the rest of his life. Nim. One doesn't want to cast doubt but why didn't his sergeant just order him to take the tin back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niimmm Posted 25 November , 2008 Share Posted 25 November , 2008 One doesn't want to cast doubt but why didn't his sergeant just order him to take the tin back? The Germans were in fact POWs and my Grandad being a conscript and his sargent had seen quite a bit of action. he wasent going to let this green 18 year old have any say whatsever about feeding men who had been killing his mates days before. An order could have been ignored (at a risk of a charge) a gun barrel with somone who might pull the trigger speaks volumes. Nim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
per ardua per mare per terram Posted 26 November , 2008 Share Posted 26 November , 2008 Of course the empty tins were also useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
59165 Posted 26 November , 2008 Share Posted 26 November , 2008 We saw a funk hole or some such thing that had 1 wall coated with empty tins.They had pushed them into the mud walls for some reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff. Hobson Posted 28 November , 2008 Share Posted 28 November , 2008 It's great to hear these tales of what the lads got up to when out of the line, mind you, I would have thought "Hard Tack" could have made a tough wearing alternative to the infamous Pave'. Post your "Bully" recipies here boys and girls but remember the denture fixative before trying the results! Regards to all. John When we were out on detachment (far East) a lad from Liverpool (not a Cook) volunteered to do the cooking, he poured several tins of bully beef into a dixie followed by sliced banana's and some crushed biscuits. It was probably the nearest thing to scouse he could get. No need to mention the taste. Cliff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geraint Posted 16 December , 2008 Author Share Posted 16 December , 2008 I came across a reference today in Hanson's The Unknown Soldier, to tins of bully with 'built in solid parafin fuel'. I've never heard of this before. Probably a firelighter attached to some sort of base. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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