YOURMILITA
T RY
R LIFE
CULTURE
COMBAT
CANDY
History of M&Ms (& more) in the military
By Kevin Lilley
[email protected]
After initially selling M&Ms
solely to the U.S. military,
Mars began selling the
candy to consumers in 1947.
U.S. military-issued chocolate predates the modernday MRE, even the C-ration. A big part of that history,
the M&M, celebrates its 75th year in 2016. Part of the
fun includes throwback packaging similar to the World War II-era tubes
that launched the candy. And $750,000 worth of product will go to
Operation Gratitude for use in military care packages, Tim LeBel, head
of sales for Mars Chocolate North America, told Military Times.
Here’s a look at some sweet history.
Designed to taste bad? Before
the M&M came to be, Army
Col. Paul Logan led the design of the “D-Bar” in the
1930s, crafting what would
become the D-ration at the
dawn of World War II. He
wanted a small, high-calorie fuel for
troops in the days before protein powder. “An emergency ration should not
be palatable for fear the men would
consume the ration rather than carry it
until an emergency arose,” Logan said,
according to a Combat Feeding Directorate publication. Reviews from soldiers, unsurprisingly, were mixed.
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Shell revolution. The
D-ration would remain
throughout the
war, alongside
some bettertasting company:
Forest Mars Sr. had crafted a candycoated chocolate that came in a tube
and happened to meet an existing
military requirement for high-energy,
low-volume food. Mars would partner
with William F.R. Murrie, formerly
president of Hershey, and the M&M
was born with a single customer – the
U.S. military.
Post-war demand.
How did a candy
issued as a side
dish for a war
ration grow to
become a key cog in
a company with $33 billion
in sales? Word of mouth doesn’t hurt:
“We owe a lot to the military, because
when a lot of the soldiers came back
home, they missed the M&M chocolate
candies,” said LeBel. “They were looking for it in the states, so we started to
begin to sell to consumers in 1947.”
Cold War candy.
M&Ms moved from
tubes to bags in
1948; the “M”
imprint on each
candy showed up
two years later. Meanwhile, troops
dining on the Meal, Combat, Individual,
in Vietnam would get chocolate disks
in some variants. The sweets would
survive while some of the other offerings — cigarettes, for instance —
would be sidelined by new nutritional
requirements.
NAVYTIMES.COM
AWARDS
Up to $50,000 in Grants to help Service
Members, Veterans and their Families
Fisher House photo by Craig Orsini
“Home away from home”
Staff Sergeant Frank and Captain Canndice Wooten called
Fisher House their “home away from home” for nearly four
months when their twin boys were born prematurely. Years later,
their family is thriving and they credit their Fisher House “family”
with helping them through their toughest times.
Volunteer and not-for-profit organizations have a special opportunity to help their communities and
beyond. Tell us about your innovative program that improves the quality of life for Veteran and
military families, and your organization could be awarded up to $50,000 in funding.
COURTESY OF MARS INC.
Newman’s Own, Fisher House, and Military Times (Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force
Times, Marine Corps Times) join together in presenting $200,000
in grants to the most creative military quality of life improvement plans. A $50,000 grant will be made
to the organization whose program is judged to be the most innovative, with the remaining
$150,000 distributed as determined by the sponsors.
The military
fielded the Meal,
Ready-to-Eat in
1983, and “pancoated chocolate
discs” became part of
the offerings in 1988, according to Julie
Smith, Senior Food Technologist at the
Combat Feeding Directorate, part of
the Army Natick Soldier Research,
Development and Engineering center.
“Pan-coated oval/round milk chocolate
with peanuts” joined the menu in 2004,
although you’d likely recognize them
better as regular and peanut M&Ms,
respectively — Natick doesn’t use
brand names.
NAVYTIMES.COM
TO APPLY:
Online: www.fisherhouse.org
E-mail: info@fisherhouse.org
Phone: 1.888.294.8560
Operation Desert
Bar. It’s not all
about pan-coated discs —
Hershey’s produced the Dration, followed it up
with the better-tasting
Tropical Bar (380 million produced during
World War II, according to the Hershey
Community Archives) and was behind the
Desert Bar, which made its debut during
Operation Desert Shield. The slogan
borrowed a bit from the competition —
“Melts in your mouth, not in the sand.”
Like M&Ms, the bar would later go on sale
to the general public. Unlike the M&Ms, it
lasted about a year.
DEADLINE:
APRIL 28
CO-SPONSORS
PROUD TO SERVE THOSE WHO SERVE
Newman’s Own Foundation continues Paul Newman’s commitment to donate all profits to
charity. Over $460 million has been given to thousands of charities since 1982.
16_090a
Making the MRE.
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