The manufacturing of an environmental can opener (P-38) requires very little in the way of raw materials. 

The environmental can opener is very small and light weight. It takes less big, smoky trucks to transport it from the factory.

The environmental can opener almost never breaks or wears out, so the big, smoky trucks can leave the factory less often.

The environmental can opener does not plug into the wall, it runs on people power, so it saves energy.

The environmental can opener does not come in a box, or have an owner’s manual, so it saves trees.

Since the late 1970’s, when I received one of these can openers from my Marine recruiter, I have owned no other can opener.

GySgt Alexander B. Hepler USMC (Ret.)

Thank you for the Mail in Special. My P-38 was confiscated in court last month. I had had it on my keychain for over thirty years. Please send another.
Thanks, Jon B, Roanoke VA

BROKEN P-38

Old, tired and broken this P-38 faithfully served David T thru Vietnam, Lebanon and then
the rest of it's life with distinction in the USAF Military Police and civilian life. It will be missed.

Hello, I enjoyed your page displaying the p38 can openers and thought I could share my collection. At least my collection thus far:

• 1. British style can opener sold by Highlander Adventure Equipment (purchased from store in Britain)

• 2. Chinese version of British style can opener

• 3. East German can opener. Stamped on side "Standard EVP 0.1C"

• 4. Belgian can opener

• 5. US can opener, similar to p38

• 6. US p38 can opener, stamped on side "MIL-J-0837"

• 7. Chinese version of p51, sold by Stansport as G.I. Style Can Opener

• 8. US p51 can opener, stamped on side "US SHELBY CO"

• 9. US p51 can opener, stamped on side "US CLARK METAL PROD"

• 10. US p38 can opener, stamped on side "US SHELBY CO"

• 11. US p38 can opener, stamped on side "US SPEAKER"

I occasionally travel and lately have taken to giving away p38 can openers. (They make great conversation starters although it seems only men over 40 years old actually know what they are). On a recent flight I gave one to the woman sitting next to me. The flight was cancelled and we all headed back to the ticket counter to reschedule our flights. As luck would have it, we are sitting next to each other on the rescheduled flight. Thing is, her p38 can opener had been confiscated by security! The 6 or 7 p38 can openers I had in my carry-on were not even noticed. Of course I gave her another one.

Have a great day!

Michael

DON'T TAKE YOUR P-38 TO AN AIRPORT, IT MAY GET CONFISCATED!

Unfortunately, I have a bad news story to tell and warn others about. I was just on a business trip from BWI airport in Baltimore to Tucson, AZ on business and had my P-38 confiscated off of my keyring by airport personnel. This was my father's P-38 from 1952 that he had in Korea. I was upset to say the least since I traveled in January this year and had no problems with keeping it.

Bottom line: Don't take it to the airport, leave it at home if you want to keep yours.

Roger B
Sterling, VA

AIRPORT CONFISCATION STORY FROM THE DETROIT NEWS!

THE ARMY gave Ron Hingst a P-38 when he was 19 years old, and he carried it faithfully for 35 years, through good times and bad times and lots of airports. A security guard at Newark International snatched it away this month, and now there's an empty place in the Howell man's heart. Also, his key ring is lighter. Hingst's P-38 was not the Walther pistol of the same name, or for that matter the P-38 Lightning fighter plane from World War II. It was a can opener -- a 1 1/2-inch-tall piece of metal with a small, hinged triangular beak that folded out to puncture lids. The Army developed the P-38 in all of 30 days in 1942. Many consider it the military's greatest invention. It doesn't break, rust or dull, and until C-rations were replaced by Meals, Ready to Eat, the P-38 was a soldier's invitation to dinner. As two generations of veterans can tell you, the P-38 was also a first-rate screwdriver, boot cleaner, letter opener, carburetor repair tool and anything else you needed it to be. But today, apparently, it's dangerous and obsolete. Hingst, 54, flies at least once a month. A few weeks ago, he and his P-38 set off to Quebec City to play hockey. He went from Detroit to Boston and Boston to Newark, and his can opener passed muster twice. Then, on the final leg of the trip, a guard stopped him. "You got to give me that," the man said. "C'mon," Hingst protested. But the clock was ticking, the line behind him was only growing longer, "and what could I do? I'm going to argue about my can opener?" Coming home through Boston a few days later, Hingst saw a uniformed National Guardsman and decided to get himself some sympathy. "Can you believe I had my P-38 confiscated?" Hingst said. "Well, it should have been," said the Guardsman. "The 38 is a sidearm." Hingst thus discovered that the P-38 is no longer standard issue. So he still doesn't have his can opener, and now he feels old.

by Neal Rubin/ The Detroit News Feb 20, 2002

DON'T TRY TO TAKE YOUR P-38 ON A PLANE IN DENVER!

I read the story from Ron Hingst. I know how he feels! I was "relieved" of my can opener by the airport security, too. I was not in the armed forces, but my father, who is a Brigadier General, was in the Army for 44 years.

When I was 12 years old, we lived at Ft Polk, Louisiana during the Berlin Crisis/Cuban Missile Crisis. On Armed Forces Day 1962, I was given a P-38 can opener....and I LOVED it. I have kept it closely guarded for 42 years!

I have flow to NYC, LA, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Milwaukee, Madison, New Orleans, Casper, Billings, Newark, Miami, Orlando, Shreveport, Chicago, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, San Francisco even to Mexico and Germany with that can opener in my purse. NO ONE HAS EVER QUESTIONED MY INTENSIONS! I went to Aspen, CO earlier this month and to my dismay the Gestapo at the Denver airport took it! I did not even have it on my key ring! They had to DIG in my zipped & snapped coin purse.

What did they think I was going to do with it? My keys are a much more lethal weapon, even hot coffee would be more deadly! (IF I WAS DUMB ENOUGH TO DO SOMETHING to someone on a plane!) That P-38 was a part of me.......part of my proud history as an "Army brat". I am angry and saddened at the loss. And I DID MISS my plane, because these people were so completely unreasonable. While the spent time harassing me, REAL terrorist were probably allowed to go through with no problem!

Now I am glad to see that I can get another P-38 from Georgia Outfitters. I think I will order 25 and give them as Christmas gifts (with caution notes attached).

Lee Ellen
San Antonio, TX

CONFISCATED IN BLOOMINGTON!

My P-38 was also confiscated at the airport in Bloomington, Illinois. I've flown all over the world with that P-38 on my keyring never thinking twice about using it as a deadly weapon. Even when I explained that I could do more damage with the keys on my ring, the keys were not confiscated, only the P-38. My husband bought me a new one but it's not the same. It's almost as if they took a piece of me away from me. I sure wish I had seen your site before that terrible trip.

Jenny
Albany, Georgia

KNOWS THE VALUE OF THE P-38

I'm 17 years old and I don't know what I would do without my P-38. It's gotten me out of several odd situations. The spool on my fishing reel jammed and my P-38 got me out of it. Fixed the pins on my video game cartridge. Popped the back off of my watch. Tightened the bolts on my Bass guitar. A lot of veterans feel old when they carry something like a P-38 because it is so dated. I know that I love mine, and I have friends in school who love theirs. And no one in an airport is taking it from me. :-P

Tony K
C/Lt. Col., AFJROTC
Las Vegas

Next year will be 30 years that I have been carrying the same P-38 “John Wayne”. Mine is a Shelby that came from a C-rat box on Pohakuloa, Big Island of Hawaii while with Battery A, 1st Bn, 12th Marines. At any rate I got one, put it on my tags and now it’s on my key ring. In 25 years, I have been stationed with the 10th Marines, 12th Marines, 8th and briefly the 6th Marines as well as a few 2nd and 3rd FSSG Battalions (8th Comm Bn, and Charlie Med. , Camp Hansen Okinawa). My trusty P-38 has been with during the whole time. A while back, someone borrowed my keys to open a can of coffee. They were late bringing the keys back, but I wasn’t so worried about my house or car keys, my P-38 was on that ring and I worried that someone would take it off the ring and I would never see it again, and several jokes were made about me to that effect. As others have said, if they lose it, a piece of them disappears with it. I guess if we treasure it that much, it should be in a safe deposit box, but I would feel naked without it.

Joe P
HMC(SW/FMF) USN, Ret

Here's my story.  I acquired my P-38 roughly two years prior to joining the world's finest Navy. I have it on my key chain right now. When my father, a former army puke, first saw it, he relayed to me many stories of how useful to him it was while in the field. We have been around the world together, my P-38 and I. I have used it during many evolutions on board various ships: General Quarters, Underway Replenishments, Vertical Replenishments, Sea and Anchor Detail and many, many watches that I stood. It was taken it into the heart of the White Sands Missile Range while we built sites to be blown up by various missiles and bombs. It has been to Japan, Korea, Singapore, Australia, Africa, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Mexico and many wonderful states here in America. I have shared it's wonderful simplicity with family, friends and sailors. I have used it to open coffee cans, smoked oyster cans, soda cans, tuna cans, salmon cans. I have used it to cut plastic, paper, string and rope (that took a lot of patience). It's versatility and ease in storage has made it a wonderful tool. A group of guys in my division are getting an order together as I type this. My son is now in Boy Scouts. He will be receiving my P-38 as my older hands require me to move up to a P-51. I am willing to bet that my JW will be passed on to his son as well.

ETC David B
FLEASWTRACEN
IN GOD WE TRUST
ALL OTHERS PAY CASH

As a passenger screener, an older vet came thru my checkpoint, he set off the metal detector so off he went to secondary screening. I was the screener and told him to empty his pockets, of which was his P38 which set off the detector. I asked him where he got it, and the told me he was a WWII vet and had it for many years. I mentioned that I had one very similar when I served in Vietnam.

I saw no value in confiscating it and told him to put it back in his pocket and move along. Less then 3 inches i believe is acceptable for sharp objects by the way. This Memorial Day will be the largest gathering of WWII vets for the grand opening of the WWII Memorial in DC. I always keep an eye out for vets and actives alike, and go out of my way to assist them.

D, a TSA screener.

Carl M

I work as a Veterans representative with my office in a local National Guard Armory.  They were getting ready to deploy to the Mid East and I pulled out my keychain with my P38.  After using it to take out a screw and cutting some 100mph tape a young Sgt asked, "What's that thing?" I replied, "A P38" His reply was What's a P38?" I knew then that I was in the old soldier category.

David B
VA Veterans Rep
Paducah , KY  

His indispensable P-38 went to his grave with him.

Hello-  

    My name is Joshua Nelson.  And I have a little story for you. During my childhood years I spent most of my time with my grandfather, a man I highly respect even in passing.  Edward Hyland, or simply Paw-Paw to the grandkids, was full of stories and life experience and handed them out only in small doses.  Pretty much a quiet man but when he talked everyone listened.

    Paw-Paw carried very few things about him but a few were as indispensable as his wallet and keys.  He carried a solid old Buck knife, a weathered Zippo that was a bowling league trophy, and his P-38.  As the years past the Buck, the Zippo, and the P-38 were never replaced and never forgotten.  The P-38 always struck my brother and I as bit a strange but we couldn't deny the simple uses it had.  So of course, being young, it became a magic wand of sorts.   

    The brakes on your bicycle need adjusting?  The P-38 to the rescue!  Small bit of string on your pants?  The P-38 to the rescue.  That little "magic wand" did everything from removing small pebbles from shoes to cutting the plastic bands around Christmas toys.  I won't say the P-38 ever saved my life but it certainly helped a quite a bit.

     Now the famous story that my grandfather attributes to his P-38 was his uses of it during surveillance missions over Southern China.  He was a photographer and his mission was to recon the seas around Japan for any suspicious activity.  Supposedly the camera equipment that he used required special tools remove it from the mounting.  Being in a rattling aircraft the camera would break down continuously and due to the same rattling he would always lose screwdrivers.  But since the little "P-38" was always around his neck, he never worried.

     My grandfather has since passed away and I inherited his pockets so to speak.  His Zippo sits in my pocket as well as that sturdy old Buck knife but I've had to buy my own "P-38" from an Army/Navy. It seems to have disappeared and the joke between my brother and I was that it went to his grave with him.  You never know when you might find use for it.

- Joshua A. Nelson

A P-38 saved the day

My brother and I were on our first deer hunting trip with my father and his buddy.  I was 12 and my brother was 13 at the time.  After our first full day of hunting we all met back at camp, extremely hungry and tired, and we got ready to prepare our dinner.  We were going to be having steaks on the grill and pork and beans.  As we were preparing our dinner for the night my father asked that my brother or I go and retrieve a can opener for the beans.  After searching long and hard, and hoping that it wasn't my job to remember the can opener, I told my father that someone must have forgotten it.  He stood there shaking his head in disbelief, "well looks like we won't be having beans tonight" he replied in a not so friendly tone.  Then I remember his buddy taking his keys out of his pocket and holding them against the can and twisting them around and around until the top finally came off.  I thought he was amazing to be able to open the can of beans with his keys and I asked how did you do that?  Then he held up this little gadget attached to his keychain that I had never seen before, and he and my father replied at the same time "the P-38".  He and my father shared a pretty good laugh after that both having served in the Army.  I had never heard of one or seen one up until that point, but I'll never forget thinking......that is the coolest little thing ever.  So the P-38 saved the day, instead of having burnt steaks that night we had burnt steaks and pork and beans.

Bob B
Schaumburg , IL

my step father and I go to Seattle every year on a outdoor adventure with a high school buddy of his.

This gent is special forces, live off the land bring minims in with you.  

So we go to Mount Saint Helens (1 week before they say she is going to blow again) there is this beautiful trout lake at the base

after 2 hr logging road drive, hike in 1 hr in the dark 75 pound packs.  

sleep on the mountain side overnite  (almost went over cliff so decided to camp)

early rise then a 6 mile hike 2000 foot drop (only 1 mile if i was a bird)  

and we are there and it is beautiful the fish are biting the elk are all over the view is breath taking

The can of beans breaks the cheap can opener we brought (he is frugal and buys everything surplus and second hand)

good for budget bad for beans  

nuts all we have is beans and trout and beer  

he carried the beer (his pack was 100ish)  

He smiles and pulls out his wallet old leather and worn there is a nice indent from were he pulls the p-38 and how cool is that i say.

At the end of every trip he thanks the lord for good times good friends and nobody died.

i added the p-38 if not for that handy little thing that trip would have been bean less

now i have a nice indent in my wallet and not the round kind

thank you lord for crafty people to invent crafty things  

Hey, thanks a million!  I still have the P38 that was on my dog-tag chain in Vietnam 67/ 68 - 176 combat missions on EC-47s.  I had seen the P38 web site when my boss had his taken away by airport security - also from Vietnam .  I can't think of a better "gimme" gift for my old GI friends.  Every so often when we have a get-together at a little bar here in San Antonio that I first went to in ' 63 I call for a "P38 Check!!" (an old tradition) - and anyone without a P38 buys the next round(s)!!

Thanks!!!   George

Subject: Attn. P-38 Story,  Here is my funny story.

I've carried a P-38 in my pocket since I was about 4.

I've carried a P-38 in my pocket since I was about 4. My brothers and me would get these from our dad who was in the US Army from the late 50s thru the early 70s, and Dad would bring home his uneaten canned rations sometimes because he didn't like 'em, and so we'd mostly just eat the candy and gum and hid around while we smoked the cigarettes they used to put in those. By the time I was 8 I could open a can of peaches with a P-38 in less time than it would take me to tie my shoes.

You know how oftentimes if you get a P-38 that's not a tight one how it comes open in your pocket?  Well the simple fix I have for that is to get one of those freebie key fobs (a rectangle shaped one works best, or whittle a thin piece of wood or plastic into a rectangle shape and drill a hole in it for a keyring) and put it on the keyring next to the P-38 so the blade side is against the fob, then use a rubber band made from an old bicycle tube and wrap it twice around the P-38 against the fob.  That way the P-38 won't come open in your pocket, and you don't even have to completely un-do the wrap either, just roll the band down enough to let the P-38 out to use it and vice versa.

As for uses for a P-38, one I've never seen listed was as a spark plug gapper, and I have seen one used to set distributor breaker points (not perfect, but worked enough to get the car started, that's a variation of the old matchbook trick).  In addition to the uses I've seen listed, I've also used mine to pry out spent shells from my old break-barrel shotgun when the extractor broke on me one day.  Another time I used my P-38 as a substitute for a thumbnail to open my pocketknife for a few days when I had 2 sore thumbnails from shelling too many butterbeans.  My old P-38 had a notch on one side wh