Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

It's National Chocolate Day. Prior to WWII, U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard life boat rations included high-calorie chocolate that was intentionally made to taste awful to discourage sailors from eating it as a snack rather than in an emergency. Later rations contained the Hershey's Tropical bar which tasted better and could withstand warmer climates without melting.

Since the United States Army turned to Hershey for help in developing its survival Field Ration D bar, it was only natural that in 1943, the Procurement Division of the United States Army approached Hershey Chocolate Corporation about the possibility of developing a heat resistant confectionery chocolate bar with an improved flavor. After a short period of experimentation, Hershey’s Tropical Chocolate Bar, in one and two ounce sizes, was added to the list of war production items. The label was a type of glassine paper, white or tan, printed with brown ink with the exception of the word “Tropical” which was printed in red.

Hershey’s Tropical Chocolate bars were developed to provide military personnel with access to a confectionery treat in parts of the world where Hershey’s traditional products would readily melt. The Tropical bar’s product formula was designed to allow the bar to hold its shape after one hour in 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

This bar was destined to exceed all other items in tonnage produced and along with the Field Ration D bar, became part of Hershey Chocolate’s history. By the end of World War II, almost 380,000,000 two ounce Tropical bars had been produced for the United States military.

In July of 1971, Hershey’s Tropical Chocolate Bar went to the moon with Apollo 15 astronauts.

Hershey’s Tropical Chocolate Bar

    1937 - Army requests Hershey develop a heat-resistant emergency chocolate ration
    1939 - Ration D bars join Admiral Byrd’s Antarctic expedition
    1941 - Pearl Harbor attack prompts gas-proof coating requirement
    1943 - Hershey introduces improved-taste Tropical Bar variant
    1945 - Production peaks at 3 billion total wartime bars
    1957 - Formula revised: oat flour removed for better taste
    1971 - Tropical Bar reaches the moon on Apollo 15 mission
    1980s - Army develops “Congo Bar” withstanding 140°F heat
    1991 - Desert Bar was created for Operation Desert Storm
    2000s - Original Ration D bar discontinued

When developing the Ration D Bar, Hinkle discovered that standard chocolate manufacturing equipment couldn’t handle the thick paste. Normally, chocolate flowed when warm, but the military formula wouldn’t flow at any temperature.

For the first 90,000-bar production run in June 1937, workers had to manually weigh, knead, and press each four-ounce portion into molds. It was a labor intensive three-week process that required entirely new machinery and methods for mass production.

The Ration D Bars were first tested during Admiral Byrd’s 1939 Antarctic expedition, proving they could sustain themselves in severe weather conditions.

U.S. Congress later moved to classify candy production as non-essential during WWII. During the hearings, Milton Hershey successfully defended chocolate’s military importance before Congress.

Congress gave the green light, and production scaled dramatically—from 100,000 ration bars daily in 1939 to 24 million weekly by 1945. Over 3 billion Ration D Bars were produced during the war years.

On a funny side note, Troops nicknamed the bar “Hitler’s Secret Weapon” due to its severe gastrointestinal effects. The rock-hard chocolate also required a knife to shave into edible portions, making it particularly problematic for soldiers with dental issues. Even those with healthy teeth had to carefully slice thin shavings and let them dissolve slowly.

Later on, The Ration D Bar found an unexpected use in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater.

Medical officers discovered that soldiers suffering from dysentery could digest the D-ration bars when all other foods proved intolerable, leading to its nickname as the “dysentery ration” among CBI personnel.

The Ration D formula saw a significant revision in 1957 with the removal of oat flour to improve the taste.

The Tropical Bar joined the Apollo 15 lunar mission in July 1971, a key ration for astronauts.

The candy bar continued to be served to soldiers in modern conflicts. In the 1980s, the Army developed the “Congo Bar,” capable of withstanding 140°F heat.

During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Hershey produced the “Desert Bar” for troops in Southwest Asia. However, this would be the last time The Hershey Company would collaborate with the U.S. military. It would later be discontinued in the early 2000s.

HERSHEY’S RATION D BAR: THE NASTY CANDY BAR THAT HELPED WIN WW2

Oct 28, 1943: the "Philadelphia Experiment" allegedly took place. Conspiracy folks claim the Navy is covering up a WWII experiment that intended to make ships invisible but had tragic side effects. According to the conspiracists, the crew of USS Eldridge was driven insane and physically fused to the bulkhead when the ship was teleported from Philadelphia to Norfolk. Dismissed as a hoax, (but not by everybody) the story was the basis for a 1984 film.



Nikola Tesla's Warning of the Philadelphia Experiment & Time Travel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMPpSeHnITY


The complete Cold War short film COMMUNISM (1950) has been uploaded to the Internet Archive. The "How to Spot a Communist" segment is at about the 3:48 mark in the third reel.







Over 7 hours of the wackiest, scariest, most bonkers true story you'll ever hear by that NY Post guy Steven Greenstreet: The Basement Office - Season 3 (16 videos)







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