[Menu] Thanksgiving Company 'H'

Tientsin: Company 'H' 15th US Infantry, 1933.
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[Menu] Thanksgiving November 30. 1933. Company 'H' 15th US Infantry, Tientsin China. (170x185mm) colour illust stiff card wrappers, silk ribbon, [4]pp.

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[Menu]

Thanksgiving November 30. 1933. Company 'H' 15th US Infantry, Tientsin China.

(170x185mm) colour illustrated stiff cream card wrappers, red silk ribbon, [4]pp.

Page [1] lists the roster for Company 'H'; pages [2] and [3] are a centrefold photo of the Company in dress uniforms at their headquarters. page [4] is the bill of fare for the Thanksgiving Dinner.  Interestingly, notwithstanding the Regiment's longstanding deployment in Northern China, the menu is exclusively traditional American with roast turkey and baked Viriginia ham at the centre of the celebration.

¶  The 15th US Infantry Regiment (originally 1000 troops) was deployed to China in 1912.  It was garrisoned mainly in the international quarter of Tientsin and along the Peking-Mukden Beijing-Shenyang railway under the provisions of the Boxer Protocol of 1901 to protect American interests in the US concession area.   Along with other troops from other nations stationed in Tientsin, it provided security and stability in the region particularly during the 1920s when criminals and warlords sought to establish themselves but also during the Sino-Japanese war. ¹

"Regimental life, including its off-duty and social aspects, made China in those days a very attractive assignment. Life was good for all ranks. The regiment's families lived in comfortable homes in the Western quarter. Each had a nurse (amah) for their young child or children, a cook, a number one boy, and possibly for American dollars. At three-month intervals Army transports brought in replacements, took away those returning to the States, and delivered potatoes and other food supplies. Game, fowl, and eggs were plentiful locally."²

The regiment was extremely proud of its record of a quarter of century of active service in Northern China without firing a shot in anger.   In 1938, after Japan conquered much of eastern China, including Peking, Tientsin and Shanghai several months earlier, the regiment completely withdrew.

A fine rare ephemeral menu from a time and place of great instability and conflict.

§  Unrecorded.
¹  The Sentinel Vol XXVIII, No 7 12 February 1938.
²  Cushman, Lt-Gen John H. "The 15th Infantry in China" Command and General Staff College Foundation News, Number 11/fall 2011

Item #11366

Price: $450.00 AUD