P-38 and P-51 Military Can Opener

My Swiss Army knife has an attachment designed like the P-38. It's the only can opener I need. Since most cans are pull tops now it doesn't get used much. But it's the best can opener I ever had as far as durability goes. All the others I have had, either electric or manual, have worn out far too soon. It also has a corkscrew for those very rare times that I drink wine and a bottle opener that also seldon gets used are most bottles are twist off these days.

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ohioboy said:
My Dad brought home from WW2 a P-38 German Luger, no can opener.
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I can’t find a P-38 Ruger. I did find a German made Walter P-38. Something tells me Walther may have taken over making the Ruger during WWII. I have a Ruger .22 magnum pistol in my collection. The P-38 shot a 9mm. Parabellum cartridge.
 
Been There said:
I can’t find a P-38 Ruger. I did find a German made Walter P-38. Something tells me Walther may have taken over making the Ruger during WWII. I have a Ruger .22 magnum pistol in my collection. The P-38 shot a 9mm. Parabellum cartridge.
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See post 38, that's exactly what it looks like, but I don't have it anymore, Walther P-38
 
Been There said:
I can’t find a P-38 Ruger. I did find a German made Walter P-38. Something tells me Walther may have taken over making the Ruger during WWII. I have a Ruger .22 magnum pistol in my collection. The P-38 shot a 9mm. Parabellum cartridge.
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I have a .380 Ruger pocket pistol. Sometimes, I forget I have it in my pocket. I have carried it into church a few times.
 
Trade said:
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I still have a couple of the can openers, although I didn't eat C's very often. Up in the Central Higlands of Vietnam, we were lucky enough to spend a few days on a firebase with a mess hall. Hot food and a shower were considered living high on the hog. Most of the time when out in the bush we had MRE's for food. They were lighter in your ruck sack and with a little water and some C4 you could have a hot meal unless things were getting hot around us.
 
I remember using a can opener like that forever ago and it worked well.

On the subject of rations, I read in the book, Chickenhawk by Robert Mason, about soldiers using the cans (I think that held cookies) to make a steno-type fire by filling them with dirt or sand and saturating it with fuel from their helicopter engines.
 
My hubs has a simular version given to him by a former neighbour who served in the army

I just asked him ( we are not home or I’d get him to dig it out )
He said the one he , has got a spoon on one end
 
Dad kept his WWII one, but Mom tossed it out when she got an electric can opener for Christmas one year. Dad had been discharged from the Navy for almost a decade at that point, and Mom couldn't understand why he got upset that she threw the thing out. She kept asking him why, and the 3rd time she asked, Dad got teary eyed and Mom told me and my brother to go to our room.

The story around Dad's WWII can opener is still a mystery, but me and my siblings have theories. Mine is that it "belonged" to a buddy of his who was KIA. I know they weren't issued to individual soldiers, but one of the only 2 personal war stories Dad ever told me was about a buddy of his who got shot right after opening a can of hash. Dad was sitting right next to him and they were going to share that can of hash. Plus, being shot at was totally unexpected because they were on a supply ship, and there was an international agreement about not shooting at anyone's supply ships...same as not shooting at medics.
 
Ruger is a USA company which was started in 1949. Those who talk about a German Ruger may be confusing with Luger, which was a German manufacturer.
 

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