TROPIC JUNGLE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 102, 1 May 1943, Page 4

TROPIC JUNGLE

ARMY UNIT TESTS SIMPLE DIET

(0.C.) SYDNEY, April 21. An Australian Army unit conducted an experiment to find a diet that would counter the debilitating effect of life in the tropics. It was carried out in rough jungle country, where day heat averaged 110 degrees and night heat 90 degrees. The patrol ranged as far as 35 miles a day, with full pack and rifle. No blankets were carried, the men sleeping on ground sheets. They went without butter, white bread, biscuits, and jam. They did not have fresh vegetables and fruit and did not use tinned foods, except for milk, cheese, and powdered eggs. A wheat grinder formed part of the unit's equipment and the men used freshly-ground wheat for porridge, bread, and biscuits*. Germinated dried peas were used for vegetables, and for five weeks this was the only vegetable they had. Dried fruit, soaked in water, was in the diet. Each man carried his own ration of salt, which was added to the rain water used for drinking. The effect of this was to prevent muscular fatigue or light-headedness.

The whole meat ration came off the land, varying from crocodile tail to beef, kangaroo, geese, bush turkey, galahs, goannas, fish, and fresh-water crayfish. Lucerne powder was used in stews and broths. From the strenuous test the unit emerged without a single casualty and in splendid condition.