I had a friend tell me the same story about her father in WW!!. She always carried a grudge against the Red Cross.
Just did a search on this. Apparently, they did charge for snacks during the war.
Supposedly, the Secretary of War demanded they charge because Brits had to pay and US didn’t have to pay and it was causing tension.
But to this day, you can hear complaints at the VFW’s from Vets.