FRANKLIN – Knowing that hunters in November appreciate an early breakfast, the Franklin Veterans Club opened its doors Saturday with an assortment of food.

Scrambled eggs, toast, biscuits, bacon and home fries were served – military-style. Spam, too, of course, right there on Route 182.

The hunters filled up with food, and veterans who stopped in filled up with memories.

“The military chow line is the lowest common denominator among veterans,” said John Mullins of Gouldsboro, cooking in the kitchen. “It’s the glue that holds everyone in this club together.”

Club members have perfected what they call a “GI breakfast,” complete with six-compartment metal trays they ordered from a military surplus company and served with an attitude.

“They are the finest metal mess trays we could get,” said Mike Heyden of Franklin, whose eye for accurate detail kept the compliments and comments flowing.

“I haven’t seen these kind of trays in a long time,” Henry Johnson said as he moved through the line.

Saturday’s breakfast was the fourth time in two years that the Veterans Club has staged its now-trademark breakfast. More than 80 people paid their $6 at the door, not minding the probability that the toast would be cold.

“It’s a good representation of what we had to eat,” said Ben Obermann, an Army veteran from Franklin. “It makes me a happy veteran. Remember that World War II song, ‘The Navy gets the gravy and the Army gets the beans’?”

Saturday’s breakfast included “Navy coffee” (regular) and “Air Force coffee” (decaffeinated).

The highlight of moving through the chow line was getting a dose of SOS, which some politely call “same old stuff.”

Others know the creamed corned beef served on a “shingle,” or toast, for a less-fond moniker. And those who were in any branch of service but the Navy knew it as gravy mixed with hamburger. Those on Navy ships relied on frozen containers of meat rather than fresh.

Heyden, who joined the Navy in 1967 – and retired as a master chief electronics technician – remembers seeing a 55-pound case of frozen roast beef aboard the USS Intrepid. It was dated from 1953.

“I bet we had roast beef for four meals out of every six,” he said. “They had to get rid of that stuff.

“But the worst thing was chicken-fried steak. It was nothing but gristle. You would chew, chew, chew and end up spitting half of it out.”

Greg Small of Franklin, who spent 23 years in the Marine Corps, dished out the bacon. Bernie Ryan of Ellsworth, who served in the Marines in Korea plus another five years in the reserves, handled the fried potatoes. Cheryl Cummings of Hancock, who spent between 1974 and ’76 in the Army, dished out the scrambled eggs.

Peter Cole of Prospect Harbor, whose years with the Coast Guard in Southwest Harbor were from 1964 to 1968, handled the SOS.

Small also had the honors of serving up the Spam – the piece de resistance at the end of the line.

Spam luncheon meat – short for special pork alternative meat – became a staple of troops’ diets during World War II.

It was supposed to be served in rotation with other meats behind the lines, according to manufacturer Hormel Foods’ Web site. But the canned meat was more regular than that, with GIs eating it two or three times a day.

“Spam served its country well,” recalled Mullins, whose 21 years with the Air Force started in 1966.

“I remember Spam quite fondly,” said Franklin’s Jim Haskell, a retired chief builder in the Navy Seabees.

The cooks at the Franklin club were kind Saturday – they didn’t serve any powdered eggs.

“That’s the only thing I don’t miss,” said Al Chaplowe, of Franklin, who served in the Air Force in Korea between 1954 and 1957. “Those powdered eggs smelled like sulfur.”