History

#FlashbackFriday: 2014—The Exchange Supports Troops During the Ebola Crisis

By Robert Philpot / November 8, 2024 /

Exchange associates became “personal shoppers” for troops who had to be quarantined after they returned from West Africa to the United States.

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#FlashbackFriday: 1984—Navajo Code Talkers Visit Exchange HQ

By Robert Philpot / November 1, 2024 /

The beginning of National Native American Heritage Month is one of the inspirations behind this look back at a visit by Navajo Code Talkers, a group of Marines whose encrypted messages based on the Navajo language helped lead to U.S. victory in the Pacific during the war.

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#FlashbackFriday: Some Halloween Treats From the Exchange Post Archives

By Robert Philpot / October 25, 2024 /

With Halloween coming up next Thursday, Flashback Friday takes a look back at some Halloween pictures in the Exchange Post archives,

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1963 photo of Richard Drew, who has a prosthetic left arm, working under the hood of a car.

#FlashbackFriday: Since at Least 1941, the Exchange Has Employed Associates With Disabilities

By Robert Philpot / October 18, 2024 /

The roots of National Disability Employment Awareness Month date to 1945. The Exchange was hiring associates with disabilities before that.

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#FlashbackFriday: 2005—An SVP Reflects on His Great-Grandmother’s ‘Tortilla University’

By Robert Philpot / September 27, 2024 /

For National Hispanic Heritage Month, Flashback Friday looks back on the story of Javier Cerna, a 31-year Exchange associate who retired as senior vice president of Western Region in 2005.

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#FlashbackFriday: The Stories of Three Exchange Associates Who Had Been WWII POWs

By Robert Philpot / September 20, 2024 /

For National POW/MIA Recognition Day, #FlashbackFriday looks back on the stories of Guy Charland, William Yingst and Robert G. Glass, three past associates whose World War II stories go beyond their being prisoners of war.

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Flashback Friday: 1983—The Exchange Comes to Honduras

By Robert Philpot / September 13, 2024 /

On Sept. 13, 1983—41 years ago this weekend—a tactical field Exchange (TFE) opened in Comayagua, Honduras. Two more rapidly followed in the Central American country, one opening Sept. 17 in San Lorenzo and the other on Sept. 24 in Puerto Castilla. In July of that year, the U.S. Military Command in Panama contacted then-general manager…

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#FlashbackFriday: The Exchange Responds After the 9/11 Attacks

By Robert Philpot / September 6, 2024 /

Wednesday will mark the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Exchange associates worldwide offered support in many ways after the attacks.

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#FlashbackFriday: The Exchange Officer Who Sang With the Metropolitan Opera

By Robert Philpot / August 30, 2024 /

Lt. Col Arthur Kent, an Exchange officer assigned to the Fort Douglas Exchange in Utah in 1956, was a reserve officer who for a time had a parallel career as an opera singer. 

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#FlashbackFriday: August 1898—Hawaii’s First Post Exchange Opens

By Robert Philpot / August 16, 2024 /

“The Post Exchange forms quite a feature in the life of the soldier,” said a report in a Hawaiian newspaper.

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