Last oil soldier deceased
A fatal mix-up in a military kitchen caused permanent nerve damage to 100 soldiers. The last of these so-called oil soldiers died in 2014.
For the first time in 75 years, military insurance stopped paying benefits to so-called oil soldiers in 2015. The last oil soldier on record died in 2014.
The almost 100 Swiss soldiers who were poisoned by cooling oil for machine guns in 1940 became known as oil soldiers. That summer, they mistook the cooling oil for cooking oil and used it to prepare cheese slices. The following fall, another company used the wrong oil for salad dressing. The conscripts suffered poisoning that resulted in permanent nerve damage.
Fatal mix-up
The mix-up occurred because the cooling oil was filled into edible oil canisters due to the lack of original containers. During transport, any labeling was lost and the cooling oil was fatally taken to the food warehouse. The cooks did not recognize the mix-up because the cooling oil did not differ from the cooking oil either in taste or appearance.
Legally, there was no one to blame, so the event was considered an accident. Only the battalion doctor was sentenced to 45 days in prison for breach of duty. He had not visited the soldiers, who were suffering from nausea, on the evening after the fateful meal, even after repeated requests. He considered their complaints to be the usual after-effects of a company evening.
Source: Suva
