General Eisenhower and Coca-Cola plants

A key part of Coca-Cola’s history is that during World War II, the Company’s long-time leader, Robert W. Woodruff, said that every U.S. serviceperson should get a Coke for 5 cents, wherever he was.

And they did pay only a nickel – wherever they were – even though that meant sending portable Coca-Cola bottling plants around the world. Over 5 billion servings of Coca-Cola were distributed to U.S. troops during the War.

Did you know that General Dwight D. Eisenhower actually requisitioned 10 Coca-Cola bottling plants for U.S. troops overseas?

The telegram with that requisition was sent on June 29, 1943. It asked for the following:

• 3 million (filled) bottles of Coca-Cola
• Complete equipment for bottling, washing and capping 3 million bottles twice a month
• Sufficient syrup and caps for 6 million refills

Just one note: We were to ship the Coke and equipment without displacing other military cargo!