Thread by @18airbornecorps

1 of 9:

On #NationalIceCreamDay, America's Contingency Corps screams for ice cream!

2 of 9:

Today, let's celebrate the frozen treat's contribution to FREEDOM!

IC has long served as a comfort to troops in combat and in training. In WWII, in fact, the @USNavy dropped $1 million refurbishing an old Army vessel into a portable ice cream factory.

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It was worth every penny!!! The "Ice Cream Float" held more than 2,000 gallons of the creamy dessert & distributed ice cream to other smaller barges throughout Western Pacific outposts.

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The cherry on top: these smaller barges distributed ice cream to Marines and GIs throughout the Pacific.

Thank you, @USNavy!!!!!

5 of 9: Throughout the war, troops couldn't regularly indulge in alcohol, so instead they often found sweet release in that cold delight [particularly in the Pacific theater where the War Department kept pushing ice cream out to units as forward as possible]

6 of 9:

Check out this cool, eminently readable book for more on our WWII tie to ice cream.

amazon.com/Much-Depends-D…

7 of 9:

But ice cream's not for everybody. Chesty Puller, famous Marine, hated it!

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He tried to convince the Pentagon that ice cream should be banned on military posts because it was, well...let's just say he felt it was insufficiently manly.

FINAL:

That's OK, @USMC, we'll take yours!!!