Is it a Southern thing to call people colonels when they aren't serving in the military? I thought Colonel Sanders was a one-off, but it turns out that in World War II, there were 148 Coca-Cola Colonels "serving" around the world.
In 1943, General Eisenhower, then Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, sent an urgent cable to the Coca-Cola Company, requesting supplies for ten temporary bottling plants and 3 million bottles of Coke.
Within six months, a Company engineer had flown to Algiers and opened the first plant, the forerunner of 64 bottling plants shipped abroad during World War II. The plants were set up as close as possible to combat areas in Europe and the Pacific. More than 5 billion bottles of Coke were consumed by military service personnel during the war, in addition to countless servings through dispensers and mobile, self-contained units in battle areas.
Coca Cola Company
Coca-Cola sent "Technical Observers," known as Coca-Cola Colonels, to build, maintain, and move these portable bottling plants as needed. They were issued uniforms and treated as commissioned officers. The Museum of the American GI reports that two "return[ed] home in flag-draped caskets."
At the onset of the United States' participation in the war, the company's president pledged not to raise the 5¢ price of a bottle of Coke. The cost of this price freeze and the construction of the portable facilities was substantial but was undoubtedly made up for by the goodwill these efforts engendered abroad and at home. Coke's dominance in the Cola Wars persists today. [via the Good Job, Brain podcast]
Previously: Dr. Pepper overtakes Pepsi as America's second-most popular soft drink
