Laundry

Hello MLU-ers

Since it costs alsmost $25 to ride taxi to and from the one and only laundromat in this town, I'm dealing with most essential laundry while living in this motel by rinsing things out in a wee bucket in a tub and hanging things off the shower rod until I can move into my new digs April 1st and get at the washer and dryer there ... doing laundry here also gets me remembering how my Mom, and most others back home, did laundry for years ... a tin washtub and scrubboard, and often in the ringer washer for those who could use them ... folks caught rainwater and/or snow in barrels for wash days and bath water, heating water on the wood and/or oil stoves (tin tub also doubled as bath tub ) ... anyways ... moving right along to something else I keep wondering about, that's in context of MLU and WW2 history ...

HOW DID THE GUYS AND GALS DEAL WITH GETTING THEIR CLOTHES/UNIFORMS CLEANED (when they were able to deal with laundry that is) ??? Living in dirty clothes must have happened a lot ... and I wonder if lice and such were a problem? Clean clothes and a bath must have been godsends sometimes?



Karmen

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally posted by Vets Dottir
HOW DID THE GUYS AND GALS DEAL WITH GETTING THEIR CLOTHES/UNIFORMS CLEANED (when they were able to deal with laundry that is) ??? Living in dirty clothes must have happened a lot ... and I wonder if lice and such were a problem? Clean clothes and a bath must have been godsends sometimes?



Karmen

... think of MLUs; MLBUs; MBUs; MLs ......

Originally posted by Mark W. Tonner
... think of MLUs; MLBUs; MBUs; MLs ......

Eh? Whatthehellareya smokin' Master Mark-O????

[Keith Webb]

Here's a mobile laundry setup.

Yikes, that's an amazing looking contraption ... when and where was it used? And what about the WOOL uniforms ... wool shrinks when ya wash it and I don't think the guys carried any Woolite on them! ?



Karmen

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Originally posted by Vets Dottir
Yikes, that's an amazing looking contraption ... when and where was it used? And what about the WOOL uniforms ... wool shrinks when ya wash it and I don't think the guys carried any Woolite on them! ?



Karmen

Ma
That is a modern Aussie unit...there is one on every house in OZ...if they have running water and clean their cloths...
We used these trailers in the field..
Hot water and gas driven engine turned the big drum full of knickers..

[Keith Webb]

It was used by the Aussies during the war... probably both here and in the Pacific.
The trailer on the right was a generator to run the machines and the large one a boiler, others behind did the actual washing.

Hmmmm ... mobile laundromats ... what a great idea! Send one here please, pronto! Am tired of wearing my cleanest dirty clothes and rinsed out essentials (can ya smell me from there? )

[Keith Webb]

Originally posted by Vets Dottir
Hmmmm ... mobile laundromats ... what a great idea! Send one here please, pronto! Am tired of wearing my cleanest dirty clothes and rinsed out essentials (can ya smell me from there? )

OK Jon, you heard the lady, hop to it!

[cliff]

Originally posted by Keith Webb
It was used by the Aussies during the war... probably both here and in the Pacific.
The trailer on the right was a generator to run the machines and the large one a boiler, others behind did the actual washing.

They were used in the Pacific as the AWM has photos of them in situ. Also a lot of the Army hospitals that were set up in places like Darwin had this type of mobile Laundry as well.

A set up like that would make a good model

cheers
Cliff

Originally posted by cliff
A set up like that would make a good model

cheers
Cliff

Wanna go into business with me Cliff? International, franchising, yada yada

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally posted by Vets Dottir
Eh? Whatthehellareya smokin' Master Mark-O????

... what, you can't read English or something .... listen up ......

MLU = Mobile Laundry Unit
MLBU = Mobile Laundry and Bath Unit
MBU = Mobile Bath Unit
ML = Mobile Laundry

Lesson ends.

Ah-hah! Lesson learned

Ma

[cliff]

just for Ma to help her out here is a Jeep set up as a mobile shower unit by the Aussies that operated in New Guinea.

Both photos courtesy of the AWM.

Cheers
Cliff

[cliff]

another view

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally posted by Vets Dottir
Ah-hah! Lesson learned

Ma

.... Part 2 of the Lesson:

The various basic designations of these units 1939 - 1946:
(Note: all on Active Service, either on a War Establishment or a Home War Establishment)

No. 1 Mobile Laundry Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 2 Mobile Laundry Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 3 Mobile Laundry Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 4 Mobile Laundry Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 5 Mobile Laundry Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 6 Mobile Laundry Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 7 Mobile Laundry Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 8 Mobile Laundry Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 9 Mobile Laundry Unit, R.C.O.C.

No. 1 Mobile Bath Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 2 Mobile Bath Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 3 Mobile Bath Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 4 Mobile Bath Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 5 Mobile Bath Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 6 Mobile Bath Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 8 Mobile Bath Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 10 Mobile Bath Unit, R.C.O.C.

No. 1 Mobile Laundry, R.C.O.C.
No. 2 Mobile Laundry, R.C.O.C.
No. 3 Mobile Laundry, R.C.O.C.
No. 4 Mobile Laundry, R.C.O.C.
No. 5 Mobile Laundry, R.C.O.C.
No. 6 Mobile Laundry, R.C.O.C.
No. 7 Mobile Laundry, R.C.O.C.

No. 1 Mobile Laundry and Bath Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 2 Mobile Laundry and Bath Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 3 Mobile Laundry and Bath Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 4 Mobile Laundry and Bath Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 5 Mobile Laundry and Bath Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 6 Mobile Laundry and Bath Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 7 Mobile Laundry and Bath Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 8 Mobile Laundry and Bath Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 9 Mobile Laundry and Bath Unit, R.C.O.C.
No. 10 Mobile Laundry and Bath Unit, R.C.O.C.

Lesson ends.

Cheers

[oztankboy]

Here are 2 more shots of the Aust mobile laundry.

Phil...

[cliff]

I note in the Mobile Bath unit column that #9 is missing. It jumps from #8 to #10. Smart lads may have gone AWL huh?

thanks for the info. This is an area of operations that is often not even thought about.

Cheers
Cliff

[oztankboy]

Power suply... Ford sidevalve powered.

[oztankboy]

Well found 1 more shot...

Phil...

Originally posted by cliff
thanks for the info. This is an area of operations that is often not even thought about.

Cheers
Cliff

Trust a woman to think about such practicalities, eh?

(I'm glad I started this thread because it's pretty interesting!)

Thanks Cliff, but Hmmmm, how does it work? A handheld shower head thingy or is there a nozzle to cut loose a shower of bullets or something ? :

Ma Yappy

[cliff]

Originally posted by Vets Dottir
Thanks Cliff, but Hmmmm, how does it work? A handheld shower head thingy or is there a nozzle to cut loose a shower of bullets or something ? :

Ma Yappy

there is a collapsable pole with a shower head on top of it as part of the equipment so it can be set up anywhere. But the law might object to you setting it up in the local park.

cheers
Cliff

Originally posted by cliff
there is a collapsable pole with a shower head on top of it as part of the equipment so it can be set up anywhere. But the law might object to you setting it up in the local park.

cheers
Cliff

Cool Thanks ...

It would also be a good way to hang out in parks and wash all the hippies and maybe Johnny Law would look the other way?

[Jon Skagfeld]

Originally posted by Mark W. Tonner
... think of MLUs; MLBUs; MBUs; MLs ......

...and don't forget the MBBU...

What's that, you ask?....

[Jon Skagfeld]

Originally posted by Keith Webb
OK Jon, you heard the lady, hop to it!

Haven't had such fun since Ma caught 'er tits in the mangle!

Originally posted by Jon Skagfeld
Haven't had such fun since Ma caught 'er tits in the mangle!

Oh dear, your poor-poor mother must have hollered then?

[Jon Skagfeld]

Originally posted by Vets Dottir
Oh dear, your poor-poor mother must have hollered then?

Not as much as I hollered when, singing "The Wild West Show", as the Umigulie bird started to land, his gulies scraping the tarmac, screamed out...aaaaaaaaaaaaOOOOOOOmigulies.

...with the elephant and the kangaroo,
We're all friends together, in all kinds of weather,
We're off to see the Wild West Show.

And in this cage, ladies and gentlemen...

[Ken Hughes]

hellow ma, i have a tin bath and a wash board for doing the washing in at our cabin in the mountains here in nz.
there is no power there,just do everything the old way
and there is nothing wrong with that if your not in a hurry!

[sapper740]

Originally posted by Vets Dottir
Hello MLU-ers



HOW DID THE GUYS AND GALS DEAL WITH GETTING THEIR CLOTHES/UNIFORMS CLEANED (when they were able to deal with laundry that is) ??? Living in dirty clothes must have happened a lot ... and I wonder if lice and such were a problem? Clean clothes and a bath must have been godsends sometimes?



Karmen

Karmen, I can tell you that the modern day Canadian Forces take hygiene very seriously. At the many field exercises I participated in the first thing up after the tents was the L.B.U. The Canadian Military Engineers have a "standardized" small L.B.U. which is a wooden floored platform under a Weather Haven tent which uses 4 electric hot water tanks ganged together to provide (hopefully) enough hot water for a camp of about 100 personnel. These small L.B.U.'s are a little on the primitive side...no heat!, but they do their job. Just don't forget to bring a large generator for the washers, dryers, and H.W.T.'s! The whole thing takes down into an M.L.V.W. size load. (Medium Logistic Vehicle Wheeled)
In 1998 we trialed the use of a much larger L.B.U. They were made by a company in Ontario and consisted of 4 container sized rooms that were placed in an X pattern with a flexible connection to form a large L.B.U. with four wings, with an additional container carrying a very large diesel engine and generator...around 750 Kva if memory serves me right. This large L.B.U. along with one small L.B.U. quite capably served a camp of over 1,000 personnel.
Everybody knows the official motto of the Engineers right? Ubique, which means everywhere ( unlike the Artillery's Ubique which means all over the place!) But did you know that the Engineers have an unofficial motto? It's: It takes an Infanteer to be uncomfortable in the field! Witness Cougar Salvo 2000; a large field exercise held at Fort Lewis, Washington. Our Engineer unit was tasked with providing support for all the reserve Armour, Infantry, and Field Engineer units from B.C. that were participating. During our pre-exercise briefing it was announced that we were to spend a week in the field with no shower facilities and even worse, it was to be a dry exercise! No alcohol! Tabernac went our French Canadian comrades! Just field expedient towel baths! All the N.C.M.s looked at each other...bulls**t on this! Very next day I grabbed one of our plumbers and we changed the jets on a natural gas H.W.T. to propane, hooked it up to a 120v. electric pump and built a crate around it and a small generator. Our MWO questioned what was in the crate as we loaded our kit on the trucks...just additional shovels and picks Sir! (he loved to see us dig!) We didn't want him to open the crate as in addition to the H.W.T. we had stashed our section's beer and rum! We Engineers were the envy of the entire camp as stories of the hot showers and cold beer in that modular tent way off in the corner of the camp circulated throughout the exercise! The MWO turned out to be not such a bad sort after all...our tea-totalling transport Sargeant caught us imbibing in our shower/mess tent and promptly stomped off to report our activity to the MWO. The Sargeant threw open the flap of the C.P. tent just in time to see the MWO pouring the C.O. and himself a Scotch!


CHIMO!