Collecting tin cans sustained Thomas V. DiBacco (left) and Billy Husser during the darkest
hours of World War II.
Posted on 02/15/2018 4:37:01 AM PST by beaversmom
If you missed the Jan. 19 celebration of National Tin Can Day, well, rest assured, I celebrated the day, designed to give this taken-for-granted product a little respect as well as encourage recycling. What disturbs me is that the tin can is no longer a term of endearment as a result of politicians usurping the can as an offensive buzzword for putting off necessary legislation. "Kicking the can down the road" didn't arise and become a yucky phrase until the 1980s when the stalemate between the U. S. and Soviet Union over nuclear arms emerged. Then it became synonymous in the next decade over deadlocked budget talks in Congress.
Tin cans have a special place in my heart because as a youngster, along with my friend, Billy Husser, in a coal-mining town in Appalachia, collecting tin cans sustained us during the darkest hours of World War II when garnering a little money for candy and sports equipment was tough going.
First, a little history: Before tin cans arose in the early 19th century, glass jars were relied upon to preserve foods, with Mason jars, named after the American inventor, William Mason, the gold standard of sorts. But because glass had the disadvantage of breaking down during mass distribution, metal containers became the objects of inventors. The first model was developed by Englishman Peter Durand in 1810, the second by another Brit, Thomas Kennett, made of sheet iron and coated with corrosion-resistant tin.
But this heavy-metal model, tweaked time and again for over a century, still brought complaints from consumers in terms of a tinny taste, discolored foods and, worse, an occasional contaminated can. By 1908, a so-called sanitary can had replaced soldered lids and bottoms, with metal tops crimped on the cans after filling, guaranteeing an air-tight closure.
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
Not sure the author ever heard of the kid’s game “kick the can”....
My first thought while reading the title.
My first thought also. Although October 25 would be the appropriate day for honoring those “Tin Cans”.
My uncle is 93 and still alive and well. He was in the Navy on a supply ship in WW2. He always calls the old ships “Tin Cans.”
When referring to ships, a “tin can” is a destroyer. The one I road for two and a half years was built in Texas in 1943. She missed WWII but served in the Korean and Vietnam wars. She witnessed from close range some of the hydrogen bomb tests in the early ‘50’s. She was not crushed and scrapped but was given to the government of the Republic of Korea. Her guns were always accurate. Her voice callsign was “Bullseye”.
“Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors” One of the few books I’ve read twice.
What is that from?
“Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors” One of the few books I’ve read twice.
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Every truly American citizen should read it. One of my absolute favorites!!!
Nice painting of a 2100 ton class tin can.
As for the ships, these babies are my favorites (maybe because I didn't serve on 'em - wetter than Hell from what the Old Salts told me): 
Love the 1930s-40s Navy movies which showed these beauties knifing through the water at All Ahead Flank.
I especially like the part where the sneaky Americans disguised a Battleship as a Destroyer Escort.
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