Today, we think of chocolate as an indulgence. During World War II, however, chocolate had another job: helping keep soldiers alive. By the time the United States entered the war, Milton Hershey had already transformed chocolate from a luxury into something ordinary Americans could afford. His company had mastered mass production, and chocolate bars had become enormously popular following World War I.
But the U.S. Army wasn’t looking for a delicious candy bar. It needed an emergency ration.
Hershey was given the job of producing what became known as the Field Ration D bar—a compact, high-energy chocolate ration designed to sustain soldiers when regular food wasn’t available.
There was one unusual requirement: It wasn’t supposed to taste too good.
The Army wanted something nutrient-dense that tasted only slightly better than a “boiled potato.” The reasoning was practical. If the chocolate were delicious, soldiers might eat their emergency rations as candy rather than save them for an emergency. Hershey’s chemists and food technologists created a dense mixture using cocoa mass, sugar, oat flour, powdered milk and vitamins. The resulting substance was so thick and hard that producing it became an ordeal of its own.
Leonard Hoffman, who worked on the production line, remembered the mixture being like clay when it arrived from the mixing room. Workers had to shovel it into enormous mixers, and after cooling it became more like putty. Philomena Castelli, one of the hundreds of women who worked in the factory, recalled that the mixture became stuck in molds and machinery and sometimes had to be dug out by hand.
The workers persevered because they understood where those chocolate bars were going. Hershey’s wartime contribution eventually earned the company the Army-Navy “E” Award for excellence in wartime production, with employees receiving pins recognizing their contribution.
For me, the D-Ration story became more than chocolate history. I have recreated the World War II ration bar for the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, following a 1940-era recipe. The reaction from World War II veterans told me I had succeeded—perhaps a little too well. They said I had hit the nail on the head. They also remembered just how hard those original bars could be. According to some veterans, one of the better ways to consume one was to break it up and drop it into boiling water, turning an emergency ration into hot chocolate.
It wasn’t exactly the silky, luxurious chocolate we enjoy today. But then again, it wasn’t supposed to be. Sometimes chocolate isn’t about indulgence. Tt’s about getting a soldier through one more day.
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