125 Years of Family Serving Family – Ed Hicks, EUR/SWA

One in a series honoring the Exchange’s 125 years of family serving family.

Ed Hicks retired from the Exchange on May 1, 2019, after a 38-year career. He wasn’t gone for long.

When the Exchange called, looking to tap into his valuable experience, Hicks immediately said yes—deploying for a sixth time in his career to serve as the general manager for the Kuwait/Jordan Exchange.

Hicks has been called a man of many hats and a jack of all trades. It’s not unusual to find him repairing frozen storage containers or putting batteries in transport trucks.

“I’ve always been a car nut. I’m always tinkering and working on cars,” said Hicks, who worked for Honda during his retirement until the Exchange called. “I tend to be very hands-on as a GM. I hate being behind a desk.”

Hicks, who was born in Harrisburg, Pa., to a British mother and an American father who served in the Air Force, spent most of his life in England. He has a British accent but never applied for citizenship in the United Kingdom.

He got his start as an on-call gas pump attendant near his family home at the Mildenhall Exchange, where he was made a supervisor eight months into the job.

Hicks made three return trips to Mildenhall during his Exchange career that also took him to Lakenheath, Chicksands, Greenham Common, Darmstadt in Germany, back to the UK at Alconbury, and finally Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph—all places where he worked at fuel stations, auto parts stores or as Car Care Center manager.

When he moved to Heidelberg, Germany, in 2002, he was named operations manager. He served as main store manager at the Robins Air Force Base Exchange from 2003-07 and began his first stint as a general manager at Lajes Field from 2007-09. He rounded out his Exchange career as either general manager or Main Store manager at Sheppard Air Force Base, Fort Campbell, Grafenwoehr in Germany and the UK Consolidated Exchange.

“My wife and I love to travel, and the Exchange was a great way of life,” Hicks said. “If you want to see the world and experience different cultures, that’s how you do it.”

Hicks’ mother, Gwendoline Hicks, still lives in Mildenhall and met her husband, Distinguished Service Cross and Purple Heart recipient Paul Lewis Hicks, at the Shoppette at the Royal Air Force Bentwaters Exchange while she worked as a cashier there.

“My father told his wingman after the first meeting that was the woman he would marry,” Hicks said. “Talk about love at first sight.”

Hicks has deployed six times during his career—to Kuwait, Romania, Iraq, Qatar, and Bosnia and Kosovo, where he served as general manager for two years.

“Those were crazy days in Bosnia. That’s really where being a jack of all trades came in handy,” Hicks said. “We were literally building stores in tents. We just did whatever we had to do.”

Hicks urges his fellow associates to take advantage of the opportunity to deploy.

“You feel good serving those who serve at any location, but never moreso than in a deployed location at the tip of the spear,” he said. “The simplest of things are a big deal down here that we take for granted back home. It may just be a candy bar or an energy drink, but here it is a taste of home.”

Though he loves his renewed career at the Exchange, Hicks knows the time will come when he will step aside again.

“It’s hard to retire. It’s hard to turn your back on that part of your life,” he said. “There have been so many great times over the years. The memories that stick are the great people I have worked for and with. Those people shape your mind and become lifelong friends. Actually, more like a giant family.”