On or around July 14, 1943, official caption:
“Private Lloyd Culuck, Company A, 1st Battalion., 172nd Infantry Regiment, eats chow from a can of Ration B on New Georgia Island, SW Pacific during the New Georgia Campaign against Imperial Japanese military forces. He uses the can lid in lieu of fork or spoon. On the island since the first beachhead was established on July 2, 1943, he hasn’t changed clothes in 12 days.”
Signal Corps Photo: 161-43-2537 (DiPaola)
The 172nd was then and is now a unit of the Vermont National Guard, and has since the 1980s specialized in mountain warfare.
For more on its involvement in the New Georgia campaign and the grueling push up the Munda Trail, see Operation Toenails.