M5 container for 4-Tunes Protective Ointment, and 1-Tube Eye Ointment

. This item is featured in Army Service Forces Catalog Government Issue U.S. Army European Theater of Operations Collector's Guide by Henri-Paul Enjames. The original shipping containers for M5 Protective Ointment tubes consisted of a metal can 3.5-inches wide, 4-inches high, and one-inch deep with a hinged waterproof lid. It held four tubes of M5 Protective Ointment for use with vesicant agents like mustard and lewisite. Each tube was wrapped in cheesecloth for use as an applicator. Under the lid of the container was a spot for a small tube of British Anti-Lewisite (BAL) eye ointment. In 1944, this combination was standardized as the M5 Protective Ointment Kit. During World War II, the Army procured over 26.5 million kits and issued them to soldiers in the field where they were kept in the protective mask carrier. The kit was also part of the Gas Casualty Treatment Set issued by the Medical Corps. In 1950, the M5 kit was reclassified limited standard in favor of the M5A1 kit. The existing stocks of the M5 kit were then converted to M5A1 kits and the M5 kit was obsoleted in 1953