Teresa Palu didn’t think anything of it when she was called into a routine meeting July 7.
Her mind didn’t register anything special, even when she saw retired Col. Jesse Barber, special assistant to the commanding general and command ombudsman of U.S. Army Materiel Command at Redstone Arsenal, holding a plaque.
“Then he started to read it,” said Palu, general manager of the Redstone Arsenal/Columbus Exchange. “I said, ‘What?’ It was a total shock.”
Barber presented the plaque to Palu on behalf of Gen. Gustave Perna, commander, Army Materiel Command at Redstone, for her customer service work at the Exchange.
“I knew Gen. Perna knew my name, but when Col. Barber was presenting the award, he told me that the general knew so much more about me and how impressed he was with the positive changes that we had made over the past two years,” Palu said.
Gen. Perna, who recently named by President Trump to co-lead a team charged with finding a COVID-19 vaccine by January, had been a regular shopper at the Express on Martin Road and the Express store on Goss Road, Palu said.
“We were making improvements that needed to be made,” Palu said. “The biggest thing is we constantly strive to keep our basic items in stock. But the improvements were all-encompassing, including everything from following the proper cleanliness protocols to keeping up the landscaping around the stores.”
Palu’s honor was particularly poignant, she said, because July 9 is her last day at Redstone. At the end of the month, she will become the main store manager at the Fort Hood Exchange.
“I never cry at work,” she said. “But I was caught so off-guard that I couldn’t help it. It was just a huge surprise.”
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