Colonel Eats Cake

[M2]

Forty years later, Army colonel Henry Moak still loves his pound cake! Moak capped off his retirement ceremony by digging into an old can of military 'C' rations pound cake from 1969, which he brought back from Vietnam...

Forty years later, Henry A. Moak, Jr., still loves his pound cake.

The Army colonel popped open a military C-ration can of pound cake from 1969 at his retirement ceremony, and dug in.

Moak got the drab olive can as a Marine helicopter pilot off the Vietnamese coast in 1973. He vowed to hang on to it until the day he retired, storing it in a box with other mementos.

After a formal retirement ceremony, dozens of friends and relatives joined Moak in the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes as he opened the can to cheers.

Moak joked earlier this week that he hoped the can wouldn't explode. It let off a whooshing sound as the pressure seal broke.

"It smells good," Moak said as he put a handful in his mouth. He jokingly staggered back a few feet and loudly cleared his throat, while one person yelled out, "Eeww, gross!"

Moak pronounced the cake "good." "It's even a little moist," he said, wiping his mouth. He dared anybody "gutsy" enough to join him, and retired Lt. Gen. Paul T. Mikolashek, who was the U.S. Army Europe commander when Moak served overseas, took an even bigger piece.

"Tastes just like it always did," Mikolashek mumbled with a mouthful of cake as Moak laughed and clapped.

Moak said he wasn't worried about getting sick from any bacteria that may have gotten into the old can, because it looked sealed. But the military discourages eating from old rations.

"Given the risks ... we do everything possible to ensure that overly aged rations are not consumed," said Lawrence Levine, a spokesman for the Defense Supply Center in Philadelphia.

Levine named the threats as mold and deadly botulism if the sealing on the food has been broken, which isn't always visible.

Moak says though he warned his children over the years not to touch his pound cake, he did let them eat some other rations when they were growing up in the 1980s, including canned spaghetti and crackers.

And how did those taste? "Fine. Well ... not like from our great restaurants."

:salut: to you, COL Moak, on your retirement! And for using a vintage P-38 can opener to open the cake!

Cheers! M2

"Get some!"

[Guest SATCOM]

Great story. Guess the preservatives really do work as intended! I remember going through basic and the C-Rats were dated 1970, and that was in 1981.

[M2]

I don't remember the dates of the C-rats we ate at Basic (I went through in Oct 81), but we were given them when I was a SP augmentee at RAF Bentwaters from 82-84, and we used to joke that they were the ones our fathers refused to eat during the Korean War!

I don't think they were that old; but as long as the can wasn't bulging and they didn't smell bad, we were told to eat 'em!

Cheers! M2

[Guest Barbarian]

Probably the same recipe as a Twinkie, just minus the filling, and we all know the cockroaches will be eating Twinkies after the nuclear war.

[snoopyeast]

He's got the bitter beer face in that picture.

Awesome story though. Neat to hear that there are still a few Vietnam vets serving.

[08Dawg]

Kinda curious what his story is on going from Marine chopper pilot to Army colonel. Seems like a well-earned retirement, though!

[M2]

Kinda curious what his story is on going from Marine chopper pilot to Army colonel. Seems like a well-earned retirement, though!

Oddly enough, we were discussing this very thing this morning. The only explanations we could come up with are either a) he was a victim of a Marine Corps drawdown after Vietnam, or b) for some reason life in the Army looked better than the Marine Corps! The Army was grabbing all the aviators it could after Vietnam, so maybe they made him an offer he couldn't refuse!

Still, it is a classy way to end a career!

[Champ Kind]

So does this mean that one can in fact have his cake AND eat it too?

[B*D*A]

Well done Col!

Ha, my first cigarette was unfiltered Lucky that my buddy stole from his father's Vietnam rations that he brought home. Damn near killed us.