Charms Candy: A Sweet Legacy Beyond Bad Luck

Regardless of your feelings about them, Charms Candy and military history are closely intertwined. Nowadays, if you ask someone in the military about Charms, they either don't know their significance or are genuinely fearful. Showing someone a packet is akin to revealing something gruesome and hideous. Recently, while traveling, I stopped at a candy store that sold vintage treats and bought my husband a pack of Charms to display. Excitedly, I showed them to him later, only to be met with a look of horror and a warning that I had "doomed" our trip.

During WWII, Charms were included as a standard component of K-rations, marketed as a high-energy supplement, and they became a staple of military rations over time.

However, when the military transitioned to MREs, Charms fell out of favor and became associated with bad luck. In the 1990s, a superstition began among Marines: certain flavors and colors were considered ominous. Lemon/yellow was thought to bring vehicle breakdowns, lime/green signaled rain, and raspberry was believed to herald certain death.

As the Army caught on to this superstition, the concern grew. It reached a point where even carrying an unopened pack was deemed unlucky. Drill Instructors would order recruits in training to discard them in the field.

Charms became so notorious that in 2007, the DoD Combat Feeding Directorate, responsible for military ration menus, removed them from MREs altogether.

And so they remain. The once-beloved sugar candy has been deemed as powerful and destructive as the Grim Reaper. Instead of breadcrumbs, the military could follow a trail of discarded Charms.