In 1939 Coca Cola only had 5 overseas bottling plants. By 1945, they had 64. What made it so popular? Because the water was disgusting. The army kept it clean by adding chlorine-so the water tasted like your local swimming pool, or worse.
On the 29th June 1943 General Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered three million bottles of Coca Cola to be sent to the allies in North Africa.
Plant and machinery for down town bottling plants were also sent so another three million bottles could be sent to the troops every six months.
By the end of the hostilities five billion bottles or cans of Coca Cola had been drunk.
Coca Cola had not only lifted the spirits of the US Armed Forces, it had also introduced itself to new markets. When the war ended the bottling plants and a little bit of America stayed too.
Still catching up....
Thanks, Kirkwood, for the interesting story about Coca Cola in during WWII....5 billion bottles! WOW!!