1949 and ultimately involved mess facilities at Parry, Japtan, Runit, Rojoa, Engebi, and aboard an LST used for living purposes, From incep- tion through June 30, 1951, approximately 2,300,000 meals were served by these facilities and the average number of persons served per day throughout the entire period was close to 1100. It will thus be seen that considerable expansion of this activity took place during the course of the project, involving an increase in size of each of the facilities provided and concomitant increases in personnel required, storage space, intra- atoll transportation of food, and the like. Original planning contemplated cafeteria style service and space alln- cations for mess facilities were planned accordingly for the population levels which formed the basic criteria, As the project expanded in scope requiring additional construction personnel over planned levels, it be-= came apparent that changes would be necessary to meet the new loads. Thus, in the Spring of 1950 a study was made of the situation and the alternatives were considered of either increasing the capital invest— ment in mess hall structures by increasing the size and serving facilities, or changing the type of service to permit more efficient space utilization. The latter alternative included the use of "plate-service" methods or family style service, It provided additional advantages in reducing waste and in practically eliminating long queves of personnel awaiting service, Although either plate service or family style service would result in more efficient space utilization (and lower capital investment), the use of plate service methods appeared to require more kitchen and serving personnel, Thus, the choice was made to change from cafeteria style service to family style service, which in effect avoided expansion of mess hall facilities at that time. Such an expansion was ultimately required (in the early Spring of 1950) in order to accommodate still further in- creases in population which developed as time went on, It might be noted that interviews with returning personnel in all classifications reveal that morale considerations weigh heavily in favor of family style service, These considerations include avoidance of wait- ing in line to be served, more appetizing appearance of the food, quantities can be chosen by the individual and greater sociability. While these factors cannot be evaluated in the monetary sense they definitely have an influence in reducing labor turnover and this is reflected in the low turnover rate experienced by H & N on this project. The normal diet, arrived at after consultation with expert personnel in the field provided 5800 calories per man per day. The average cost of raw food per man per meal experienced throughout the project was seventy cents which compares favorably with recent data from a catering contractor to the effect that three on-continent contract yielded an average cost of seventy-three cents per man per meal for a supposedly similar diet served family style. Qther relevant statistics on mess hall operations for the period from inception through April 30, 1951, are as follows: 16-25