Mk 2 Carrier water can

[Owen Evans]

Originally Posted by Robert Bergeron

Rob , all white water cans I have seen all bear earlier date marks than the Grey cans. I think the white was too conspicuous to be used on the battlefield and was changed somewhere in 44 to Gray.. but still not Green as to differentiate them from POL . Humble suggestion also.

To add to this, I picked up a water can (albeit a British one) a few weeks ago, stamped 'VALOR 3 40' (March 1940?) on the underneath. After removing the multitude of paint layers, I find it is black, with 'WATER' stencilled in white. I find to trace that the can was ever painted white. Of course, the paint could have been stripped before repainting.

From a point of history, here's a photo (July '44, in Normandy) of the white cans in action behind a Bedford MWC. Were the white cans retained for use away from the front lines? And note the black jerrycans too. And still on the subject of water cans, how would the troops in the field know if the water in the cans was safe to drink? I've never seen a 2 gallon can marked 'drinking water'.

Just my thoughts..

Owen.

[Robert Bergeron]

All good questions my friend !

[marco]

Some information about water cans from the XIIMD War Diary but this info should also apply for other units.


Marco

[Robert Bergeron]

Nice Marco , very nice information ! Thank-you

[Robert Bergeron]

One of my friends sent me a picture of an original red 2 Gal can .

Could you post it here please Michael R ? Thanks.

[Kirk Armitage]

Picked this can up the other day, never paid attention until I got it beside another one. The common one on the left has rounded corners and the usual markings, the mystery one has sharp corners and no markings that I can find.Any info would be appreciated. Thanks K Armitage

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Kirk Armitage

....., the mystery one has sharp corners and no markings that I can find.

Not unlike many things, when the original items become hard to find, a certain asian country will begin to make copies to fill the demand.

While not specifically a military POL can, the area of petrol companies who also used these types of cans is an active and lucrative area of collecting, and so you can now buy "NEW" cans to fill your needs.

I wonder if Kirk's find is somebody's attempt to fill a need for a hard to find can?

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GOLDEN-F...4AAOSwcw1ejnLK

[Ed Storey]

Originally Posted by Kirk Armitage

Picked this can up the other day, never paid attention until I got it beside another one. The common one on the left has rounded corners and the usual markings, the mystery one has sharp corners and no markings that I can find.Any info would be appreciated. Thanks K Armitage

The petrol tin with the square corners may be Australian.