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EXCHANGE SERVICE MARI 13 67th BIRTHDAY
Maybe most of them are retired now, out alot of service old timers can
ember when the Exchange Service , was a modest little operation where a man
could find tobacco, toiletries' and maybe' such items as cameras and film at
’’fringe benefit" prices. It was handy to have around and saved you a hike
into town.
This week, marking its 67th birthday - a ripe retirement' age — the Exchange
is still handy to have around. It has no plans to retire, but if it did,
servicemen everywhere would, awake to a realization of how well it works for
them, at home or overseas, on Adak or afloat. It has grown big - not only
as a merchandising operation but as a.morale factor for all people in the
Armed Forces, and their dependents.
How' d'o we show our appreciation, of this outstanding service benefit? . We
would do it a disservice (perhaps a crippling one) if we thought that the
mere money we spent at our Exchange in itself helped it to flourish. If that
were so, if the volume of business decided its state of health, we could buy
its counters bare for our civilian friends and" neighbors in the lower 48.
But, if we did, ultimately 'the Exchange as a threat to civilian merchants
would suffer for it by restrictive legislation*
Morale, as one overseas command Exchange chief observed recently, is many
things to many people. " To 'the airman at an isolated radar site on the ‘Jap
anese Island of Hokkaide it may be a magazine; to the men of another station
it might be a candy bar."
Whatever the reasons be, and whatever way your Navy Exchange helps YOU, the
Navy Exchange and all Exchanges in the system of the services deserve your
thanks and support in helping to keep it high.' It cannot be repeated too
often that the best way of supporting the Exchange is to keep its benefits
strictly where they belong - in the Armed. Forces family. Do not make any
unauthorized purchases here on Adak or any duty station where you might go.
The Exchange has done well by Us — expanding its scopo and activities as
the services expanded, lo* them, and the some 70,000 men and women who work
for it, a "HAPPY BIRTHDAY"' and "WELL DONE". '
MiCTfMOSe ooo