Chewing Gum, Candy Bars, and Beer: The Army PX in World War II

1. From the Sutler’s Tent

1 ´ From the Sutler’s Tent Today every Army, Air Force, and Naval base has a PX, a Post Ex‑ change, or Base Exchange. It is the soldier’s department store, selling everything from clothes to cleaning supplies and television sets. By the end of the twentieth century most Army and Air Force installations had a PX that resembled fashionable civilian shopping malls. The his‑ tory of the PX, however, had its roots in war and was far different from what the soldier sees today. The modern PX was born just before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and by the end of the war in 1945 it was the world’s largest department store, serving soldiers from Aruba in the Caribbean to Iceland in the North Atlantic, from France and England to India and Australia. Run by civilians in uniform, the system promised that wherever the GI went, the PX was certain to follow. The rule was that whatever the GI enjoyed in civilian life, he would get “his fair share” while wearing the uniform of the United States. The Army of World War II was a citizens’ army made up of vol‑ unteers and draftees. These citizen soldiers had grown up in a world that had the automobile, the radio, and the movies, a far cry from their fathers’ world of the Great War or their great-grandfathers’ experiences in the Civil War. The generation of the Second World War was not an indulged or pampered group; they had experienced the hardships of the Great Depression. But they were very different from their prede‑ cessors. General George C. Marshall understood what raw material he 10 11 From the Sutler’s Tent had with which to build and wondered if indeed the Army and Army Air Force could match a battle-hardened enemy. At times he had doubts.1 The Army, however, would make sure these citizen soldiers were supplied with everything from rifles and artillery to sodas, cigarettes, chewing gum, beer, and candy bars. The Army had not done well in supplying what would become known as comfort items, those small items that made a soldier’s life endurable. There was little need as long as the Regular Army remained small and far from the civilian populations. Only when citizen soldiers became involved did the question of supplying items such as razors, soap, and, most im‑ portant, tobacco become a critical issue. In the years before the Civil War, merchants known as sutlers were allowed to peddle goods to the troops. A system was in place in 1861 that invited abuse and dishonesty. Every regi‑ ment was allowed to have a sutler, who followed the troops and set up shop near the camps. In makeshift shops and tents the sutler sold everything from fried pies (often moldy or rancid) to tinned oysters and the “soldier’s comfort,” tobacco. Although hard-liquor sales were prohibited, the sutler did a brisk business in brandied peaches, usually consisting of one or two peaches of doubtful quality and cheap, almost undrinkable, hard liquor. Sutlers were one of the most disliked groups of individuals in the Union army. The Confederate armies allowed for sutlers, but the dire conditions in the South dictated that there were very few comfort items for sale. Sol‑ diers in Union blue called the sutlers such names as “dog robbers,” or just plain thieves. Officers who had the well-being of their soldiers in mind constantly complained about the sutlers who sold shoddy goods, charged five cents for a three-cent postage stamp, and filled their men with rotgut whiskey. Generals such as U.S. Grant and William T. Sherman disliked the system and tried to ban the sutlers from the camps. Once the war was over, the question of supplying massive numbers of troops ended. The Regular Army was reduced in size as the number of missions increased. Part of the Army served on the East Coast (once Reconstruction was over), in Washington, and in installations designed to protect the harbors and cities. The remainder of the Army served in the West, along the frontier in isolated posts far from cities. There the canteen replaced the sutler, selling tobacco and other small comfort items. Pay was very low for both officers and enlisted men, and opportunities to spend money for comfort items were limited. 12 Chewing Gum, Candy Bars, and Beer The Army recognized...