Moveable Feasts
The Pneumonic Power of Army Trunks
The trunks which at first broke my back ultimately soothed my soul. My West Point trunks, or footlockers, started life as storage units, heavy pieces of equipment required for display and one of the few places where a cadet can store personal items. Lugged up and down many flights of stairs—first year cadets are not allowed to use elevators—they often felt more punishing than practical. But as time went by, they morphed from pieces of luggage into pneumonic devices, something which whenever opened, brings back memories of my time as a cadet.
I remember opening a trunk years after graduating, after I had come back from Afghanistan, to find its contents unchanged from when I commissioned in 2007. The items were not especially sentimental, mostly stationery, padlocks, tie pins, notebooks from classes, and DVDs (Band of Brothers, Black Hawk Down, Tears of the Sun, etc). Even so, picking through the trunk transported me back to the Academy.
Historical trunk, or footlocker, on display at Fort McCoy. Source: DVIDS.
This effect is similar to what Hemingway referred to as a “moveable feast”. Speaking of Paris, he said, “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” His editors made this the title of his memoir, published posthumously; a book which had at least partially been inspired by Hemingway—in 1956—coming back into possession of two steamer trunks he had stored in Paris in 1928. Such is the pneumonic power of trunks.1
This power is not restricted to unleashing our own memories and nor does it always produce a feast. When I was a teenager getting ready to head off to West Point, a Vietnam veteran mentor and friend gave me a wooden Army trunk—originally an ammunition storage unit—he had kept from his time in uniform. To this day, no matter the contents, whenever I open the trunk I think of my friend, both his incredible strength and tenacity as well as the long struggle he endured due to his experiences at war.
The Army did not invent nor popularize trunks. Travel trunks experienced their heyday during the Victorian era mostly due to the fact that they were well-suited for long-term travel by rail and steamer ship (hence “steamer trunk”). But Army-issued trunks continued to hold a special place in the lives of their owners and their families long after mainstream commerce and culture had moved on to new forms of luggage.
Many military-related cultural institutions, such as the National World War II Museum and the MacArthur Memorial integrate trunks into their educational programming, for example. Similarly, an educator at the Library of Congress sought out a World War I soldier’s trunk to use for its 2019 exhibition, Echoes of the Great War: American Experiences of World War I. In both popular imagination and the lived experiences of soldiers, trunks stand out for their unique role in capturing stories and connecting people across time and place.
It’s hard to imagine a similar effect with contemporary luggage. This is not to lament the shift away from trunks. As someone who travels regularly with a three-year old, I am immensely grateful for wheeled suitcases. But there is something special about a piece of equipment designed to endure for generations.
I am grateful, for myself and for my family, that I have trunks from my time in the Army. They invite conversations, enable me to more easily share stories, remind me of some of the best moments from when I was young, and at times, allow me to sit with the hardest memories from those years. I don’t think I am unusual in this respect—many of the veterans I know have held onto their trunks long after they had any practical use.
Perhaps the start of the new year is an opportunity for us all to go out and procure a new trunk, real or figurative, to fill with the memories from 2025. If so, I hope yours ends the year filled to the brim. And I look forward to, in some small way, being part of that journey through Army 250.
Happy New Year!
Additional Resources:
The U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum is a great resource for all things supply, including trunks: https://qmmuseum.army.mil/research/index.html.
The American Battlefield Trust also has a “Traveling Trunk” program for educators, to help students learn about the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. You can learn more about this here.
Do you have a story about an Army trunk? If so, I’d love to hear it! Please send it to dan@army250.us.
Be Part of Army 250
If you’d like to write a newsletter post, share an educational resource about the Army, or lift up an opportunity for people to connect with the Army (e.g., an event, story, etc.), please contact Dan (dan@army250.us).
In the introduction to the 2009 version of A Moveable Feast, Seán Hemingway (grandson of Ernest Hemingway), tells the story of Hemingway coming back into contact with his steamer trunks.