This is my Uncle’s old metal toolbox. I cannot find any marking on it at all and there is no indication of a missing data plate or decal. It looks like it was originally blue and later painted green or it could be the reverse. The design looks very similar to the Tru-Test 821 but there are quite a few differences from the examples I have seen. The shelf rests are fairly crude compared to the 821. The handles, piano hinges, and tray all look very similar to the 821. The box looks to be spot welded together however, I believe one of the features that would help identify it are the exterior corners which look to be wrapped with a support bracket.
You can also imagine what a PITA it is to get the removable tray back into the box if the oiler is not perfectly positioned. And, lastly, you don't have to be a WWII guy but only a collector of any vintage tool or set or box or chest with nitnoid collectors' complexities to imagine the debates that have taken place over the correctness of 1 or 2 oiler holes (mainly because the illustrations of the GMTK in WWII manuals only shows 1)! While we have studied and compared the differences in the shape of the feet, the number of elements in the piano hinge, and the tray supports on Union, Hamilton, and McAleer boxes, the quickest and easiest way to ID a Union box is the handles. See those indents on the inside of the lids? They pounded the brackets in before they spot welded them. You won't see those indents on a Hamilton or McAleer box because they did not pound those brackets in, they only spot welded them. More than you probably wanted to know - I know.
Brian
You can imagine what would happen if the heavier contents in the bottom of the box surrounding the oiler vessel shift abruptly when being carried, which may be why so many old oilers have bent spouts.
11,
Here is a link to a post here on this thread showing a GMTK I put in a Union Steel Chest Corp (Leroy, NY) flip-top box back in 2012. Slightly different shade of green than Don's and yours which is not unusual. Here is a link to a close-up of one of the supporting corner feet, if you want to compare. And lastly, while I don't think this is the case, here is a link to a Union box that outofbounds found just last year that was blue. Even though his has all the wartime characteristics, I believe it was postwar and original blue.
Several years ago I designed and made a foldable GMTK collectors' guide for myself to keep in my flea market bag, to make the rabbit hole a little more navigable. For a small fee, I've made a few dozen for others since then. Let me know if you change your mind.
No vehicles. They were issued, 1 each, to general mechanics, who were located at 2nd echelon maintenance depots, just behind the front lines. Those depots were often just open fields or the backs of large trucks. And they had other larger specialized tool-sets to draw from there, but the GMTK was their carry box (~50+ lbs of basic hand tools), and theirs alone. By 1944, ~150,000 GMTKs had been shipped to the ETO.
Several years ago I designed and made a foldable GMTK collectors' guide for myself to keep in my flea market bag, to make the rabbit hole a little more navigable. For a small fee, I've made a few dozen for others since then. Let me know if you change your mind.
Thank you, sir.
Loading the GMTK, in general - at its peak contents quantity in January 1945, it had 115 individual pieces - is an art, a science, and an adventure to begin with, and positioning the oiler is definitely part of the magic, Outlaw. I am building my 6th kit and I am sure the other guys have their own tricks. I chalk mine. But let me tell you, once the bottom is packed, most guys don't fiddle around with them too often, and if it has to be moved, many of us take the tray out first, just to lighten the load a little!
Thank you, sir.
I was inspired by Army inventory/inspection matts for GMTK's from the 80's, which had an outline of every issued tool. You would literally lay it on the ground or a hood and put the tools on top. Easy for the first sergeant to check. Too big, of course. Also inspired by the ingenious training devices, which packed a ton of information in a small form, like the Soviet weapons wheel I still have from my regular duty time. I just mushed them together. The tiny white text in the black block is an alphabetical list of verified suppliers, with handy brand or markings cues.
I will tell you I quickly learned to not get it out and place it on the vendor's table before I asked for a price on something!
EDIT: Truth be told, I don't use it as often as I used to. The sizes and patent dates and other details embossed in my memory banks. But some of them are tricky. Files, for example. Different types had different cuts and different lengths that I still confuse or conflate. Same with punches. And feeler blade thicknesses. Couple other tricky things.
Classic!
Picked another one up think I overpaid on this one but it came with the key. And was well taken care of drawers are like butter.
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There's an Army Motors magazine from WWII with a cover that is popular in our little collecting community, featuring an artist's rendering of mechanics heroically 'taking a hill' armed only with their GMTKs. I can't seem to find it, but Don or Unaiu might have it handier.
Doing my Jeep onboard toolset and these sets is what got me started collecting vintage tools. 
