The F.R.E.D otherwise known as the “F*cking Ridiculous Eating Device” was introduced in 1943 as part of Sir Stanton Hicks' "Operation Ration Type O2," Australia's first military rations that lasted 24 full hours. This F.R.E.D. matches the second iteration of the combination can opener and spoon popularised during the Vietnam War, and belonged to the uncle of Ian Taylor. Ian remembers his uncle telling him about using F.R.E.D. during WWII, primarily to open baked beans. It is claimed in some military histories that, after the F.R.E.D.’s introduction in 1943, Australian soldiers developed a ‘strange attachment’ to the F.R.E.D., keeping the utensils far after their service was up and, in this case, passing them on to future generations as bean openers. Silver metal two sided tool, one side shallow spoon and other bottle opener, with two raised vertical lines on the back. On the end is a circular hole to attach the tool to a pocket knife.military equipment, cutlery, rations, military rations, world war 2, military heritage, spoons, bottle openers, pocket-knives, second world war, wwii, vietnam war, 1940s, f.r.e.d., australian life, australian military, military life