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During WWII when hungry GI's were ready to dive into that delicious meal of C-Rations, they used their trusty P-38s to open the cans. No it wasn't a WWII fighter plane or a pistol, it was an amazingly simple 1-1/2 inch stamped metal gadget that was developed by the Subsistence Research Laboratory located in Chicago during the Summer of 1942 and unbelievably in just 30 days.
It's official designation is 'US ARMY POCKET CAN OPENER' or 'CAN OPENER, KEY TYPE', but is know more commonly but it nickname P-38. It supposedly acquired it's nickname from the 38 punctures required to open a C-Ration can. By many it's also known as a "John Wayne" because the story goes is that he demonstrated using them in a WWII training film, so when soldiers would ask for one if they forgotten the name they would just ask for a "John Wayne". Originally they came in individual paper packets with the directions how to use printed on it, about a dozen came packed with a case of C-Rations. Unopened Vietnam era vintage P-38s still in their original paper wrapper are hard to find so if you find one resist the temptation to open it. These handy little gadgets have adorned dog tag chains and key rings ever since
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