Artifacts

M-1942 Canteen

The M1942 and the M1910 were the two models of canteen that were most frequently used during World War II. The canteen from the M1942 features a black plastic lid and a horizontal seam. The M1910 has a black plastic lid and a vertical seam up the sides. Because aluminum was required to construct the war efforts warplanes, many M1942 canteens were built of stainless steel as opposed to the aluminum M1910. There were also brief experiments with porcelain enamel canteens and plastic canteens as metal became more and more important to wartime industry on the home front