Posted on 01/04/2022 9:20:11 AM PST by mylife
American GIs in World War II did not get to experience many creature comforts. Sustained mostly by C-Rations and whatever could be made in a field kitchen, troops were halfway around the world from the tastes of home. There was one exception. Every serviceman had access to a supply of Coca-Cola. This was done through a global network of bottling plants, technological innovations, and an entire unit whose job was to ensure that soda supplies never ran dry.
In 1943, Dwight Eisenhower sent a request to the head of Coca-Cola. Eisenhower requested 10 portable Coca-Cola factories near the frontlines. This came after Coke President Robert Woodruff had previously stated that any American servicemen would be able to get a Coke during the war no matter what it cost the company. With a request from Eisenhower, it was time for the soda producer to put up or shut up, and they came through with a plan that far exceeded the original 10 factories.
64 Coca-Cola bottling facilities were made for the war effort. These would not have been as successful as they were, though, without the aid of the Technical Observers. This might sound like an obscure military rank, and it sort of was. What the Technical Observers (or TOs) really were were Coca-Cola representatives uniformed in fatigues who were tasked with ensuring that GIs had Coke available to them regardless of where they were. 148 TOs helped quench the thirst of servicemen.
(Excerpt) Read more at cracked.com ...
Little did the servicemen in that photo know that one day their children and grandchildren would be deemed “too white” for Coke.
Great movie! Really funny!
By late in the war, the Nazis were having to rely on Ford for new trucks. The German owned manufacturers were bombed out, so Ford supplied the Germany army. Of course, that ended by early March 1945 when America troops overran the area
Quite correct.
The Ford plant in Cologne was cranking them out until the Allies stopped it.
He was German and fled when Hitler came to power.
Not only that, Coca Cola made M2 receivers that are still in use today.
Everyone was making guns.
This was back when Coca Cola was a patriotic American company before it became Woca Cola.
Frankly, the Cold War jokes need a revisit; they’re far more relevant to today than one may realize, especially if you substitute Red China or Iran (in some contexts) for the USSR.
“...Or even at night the glow from a cigarette would give away your position.” [dfwgator, post 25]
It’s been said that merchant vessels crossing the Atlantic in convoy were sunk because sailors on deck were smoking. The red glow of the burning end of the cigarette was spotted at night by U-boat crews hunting them.
“...The guy on the left of the picture has 6 fingers...” PAR35, post 33]
No he doesn’t; he’s a two-fisted Coca-Cola drinker.
The top three fingers are on his right hand. So is the finger directly below the bottle. The finger below that is on his left hand - look closer and you can see the fingernail on the left end. Can’t see the nail on the finger below that - image is cut off by the inset thumbnail. But it’s probably on the left also.
The five uniformed personnel in the black and white image accompanying the initial post aren’t drinking at all; every visible bottle appears to have a rubber cap over its rim. If any had swallowed some of the contents, the liquid remaining inside their bottle would be at a different level.
It does look like the bottles are capped with the rubber nipple caps in use in the 1940s, for nursing infants.
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