Recipes on Parade 1965
While rummaging through some of my aunt’s old cookbooks the garage, I came across the most wonderful treasure. It was an old spiral bound cookbook from 1965 called Recipes on Parade, 2000 World Wide Favorites of Military Officer’s Wives. My aunt was a military spouse of a Wild Weasel pilot for 26 years and experienced life through long deployments of the Vietnam War.
She belonged to more Officer Wives Clubs than she can remember and enjoyed every one of them. Food was big part of how the wives communicated, comforted and consoled each other. The recipe book is a bit tattered, but had the most amazing recipes that brought back long forgotten memories of duty stations and dinner tables. The follow recipes are repeated exactly how they are written in the recipe book.
General James Harold “Jimmy” Doolittle, USAF was an American aviation pioneer. Doolittle served as an officer in the United States Army Air Forces during the WWII. He earned the Medal of Honor for his valor and leadership as commander of the famous Doolittle Raid over Japan while a lieutenant colonel.
Doolittle married Josephine “Joe” E. Daniels on December 24, 1917. At a dinner celebration after Jimmy Doolittle’s first all-instrument flight in 1929, Josephine Doolittle asked her guests to sign her white damask tablecloth. Later, she embroidered the names in black. She continued this tradition, collecting hundreds of signatures from the aviation world. The tablecloth was donated to the Smithsonian Institute. Married for over 70 years, Josephine Doolittle died in 1988, five years before her husband.
A General’s Favorite Ham Loaf
2 lb smoked ham, ground
1 lb fresh pork, ground
½ lb graham crackers, crushed
1 cup of milk
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Thoroughly mix all ingredients. Place in a loaf pan; bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Excellent served hot or cold.
Mrs. James H. Doolittle, Hon. Mem. 1965
AF Officers’ Wives Club, Los Angeles, Calif.
