Though the ham and lima beans ration (aka ham and motherfuckers) was detested to a great degree, it wasn't universally hated. In his memoir, Vietnam, a Memoir: Airborne Trooper, David Holland says the ham and lima beans was his favorite among all the C-rations then in circulation. "The trick I quickly learned was to mix and add. Melting the cheese into the ham and lima beans created, for me anyway, a quite delectable dinner. Adding condiments such as pepper and hot sauce could do wonders."

I'll also point out that ham and lima beans was on the C-ration menu from 1944 until 1981, when the C-ration was phased out in favor of Meals, Ready to Eat (MRE). A good introduction to the development of the C-Ration can be found in Erna Risch's The Quartermaster Corps.

The ham and lima beans introduction, according to Special Rations for the Armed Forces, 1946-53 by Franz Koehler, was part of a menu change for the C-ration that was stronly requested by the troops. When the first large-scale C-ration issuance began in 1941, its meat component was limited to beef stew, pork and beans, or hash.

This lack of variety created what the army termed "ration fatigue," and in 1943 the Army added ground meat and spaghetti as a stopgap fourth option.

In the following year, the Army issued a new specification calling for 10 varieties including ham and egg and the famed ham and lima beans. Meat hash was dropped because soldiers hated it so much. Unfortunately for troops in the field, the 1944 specifications didn't make it to the field before the end of the war. There were too many old-style rations still in circulation, and not until the Korean War did ham and lima beans (and the rest of the new formulations) make it into the field.