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S.0.S. Recipe - U.S.M.C. Style

S.0.S. Recipe - U.S.M.C. Style

What you’ve all been waiting for!

Everyone recalls the famous pre-invasion Marine Corps breakfast of steak and eggs. However, that was not the normal morning meal served aboard transports as they slowly plodded across seas to deliver Old Breed Marines to their next combat venture.

Once in a while a great document of historical importance concerning the Marine Corps comes to light. This is not one of them, but worth printing for those of you who miss the famous, everyday meal commonly called S.O.S. One note of interest, did you know Marines had their own ‘special’ recipe, which differs from any other branch of service?

S.0.S. Recipe – U.S.M.C. Style

1-1/2 pounds extra lean hamburger or ground chuck
2 table spoons Oleo or Butter
1 cup freshly cut chopped onion
2 table spoons flour
2 tea spoons granulated garlic
4 table spoons Soy Sauce
1 table spoon Worcestershire Sauce
2 cups milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Brown meat, add oleo and stir. Add onions and cook until they are translucent. Add flour, stir and cook two to three minutes. Add garlic, soy sauce and Worcestershire. Mix thoroughly. Add milk and stir till it thickens. Serve on a shingle (toast}.

It’s now time to rush to the grocery store to get any ingredients you don’t already have. One must keep this in mind before leaving the house. You either: (1) miss the Corps terribly and should volunteer for fleet duty, (2) have a great desire to do bodily injury to yourself, (3) suffer from dain- bramage or, (4) have neighbors you can’t stand and want to invite them to a special dinner. Before doing option #4, suggest you dig a slit trench in the back yard in case of emergency gastric distress imposed upon your guests.

Written (with tongue-in-cheek) by:
Historian, FMDA

Submitted by:

Some good eating.

CPL JIM HOPKINS
1956-1960

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Comments

Andrew H. Gardner 69-71 - May 31, 2020

First couple of weeks at Parris Island wondering how anyone could eat that “stuff”, and then I tried it. For the rest of my time in the Corps, breakfast was two slices of SOS, hash browns, sometime scrambled eggs, if I was really hungry, finished up with orange juice. Mrs. “G” makes up a great batch of SOS from time to time as well. AAAHH the good times.

Dean Darnell Cpl 75-79 - May 31, 2020

Goes good over cooked rice .

Sgt Angelo J.Manos - May 29, 2020

Thankyou Cpl Hopkins.My mother was the worst cook in the world.When I arrived at P.I.and was first served SOS,I thought I died and went to heaven.The stuff was great and I loved it.Many of the recruits quietly grumbled or would whisper “Oh crap,SOS again”.You know we had to have clean trays by the end of chow and a few recruits next or across from me would dump their remains of SOS on my tray.After my enlistment was up,no more SOS but in the 1980s I found a restaurant that actually served it because a few Veterans (Canadian & U.S.) demanded it and the owner loved us so she served it.It was a sad day when land owner would not renew the lease for the restaurant.I loved using tobasco sause.Thanks again for your recipe.

J. Ston w - May 29, 2020

Spent all night in Receiving. At 5am this was my first meal on my first day at PISC 1965

Bill Swann, CPL., 66-70 - May 29, 2020

Hot and filling as it is; it was however never what would be called a culinary delight. It would help if you put scambed eggs with cheese on top.

Ron Colfry former Cpl. of Marines - May 29, 2020

Yo Hopkins you forgot to mention that one should douse the referenced culinary delight with copious amounts of Tabasco sauce in order to render said culinary delight palatable. SF

James Kanavy - May 29, 2020

This is why they had gallon cans of peanut butter and jelly on the tables in ITR!

WILLIAM RUSSO - May 29, 2020

I MISS IT. THANKS,LCPL, WM. RUSSO 64-66 USMC

Chris Vail, Sgt, UsMC, 1952 – 1958 - May 29, 2020

Cpl. Hopkins, you certainly a gentleman with great tastes. While many of my buds thumbed their noses at this delightful cuisine, I found it to be a better starter breakfast than the usual eggs and things. As a farm boy from the country, I had never heard of SOS, but the cooks at Parris Island in 1952 enlightened me. To this day, I continue to drool over a plate full of it. In fact, I’ve been making my own for years, but I leave out the oleo/butter, garlic and soy sauce as per a recipe from LEATHERNECK magazine years ago. I’m in the process of losing weight in preparation of surgery next month so my taste buds won’t be satisfied until after the operation at which time I shall make a heap of it and savor every durn bite.

Sgt Marko - May 29, 2020

My dad was a WWII army veteran, so I was familiar with S.O.S. as it was called. It was not bad and a very hearty breakfast. When I got to boot camp, we had scrambled egg, that had to be made from a dried powered mix , they were horrible. I was pleased to see S.O.S. in the chow line. Unfortunately it was made with some sort of ground meat (not the best quality), and there was this layer of grease floating on top. It lived up to the marine corps food standards, none ! I had the opportunity to sample food from the other banches, and enjoyed most of it. We provided security for the seabees, building a bridge on the CamLo river, in Vietnam. They made S.O.S. for breakfast and it was made the correct way with dried beef. They knew how to cook. Marine cooks were so bad overall that when I was at C2 near the DMZ the food was so bad that we requested that, the skipper get us “C” rats. The so called cook would put out a large pot of canned tuna, and a pot of warm coolaid and call it a meal. No wonder marines are lean, and mean.

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