COCA COLA « STARR X » BOTTLE-OPENER

Quickly remove beer or soda caps with this faithful reproduction of a vintage bottle opener.

Did you know?

During the Second World War, Coca Cola launched a series of advertisements emphasizing the brand's patriotic character, a brand so ingrained in Americans' drinking habits that it would remind them of "home" no matter where they were in the world.

That's why, in 1941, when the United States joined the war, and thousands of Americans were sent overseas, Robert Woodruff, president of Coca Cola, ordered that "every man in uniform should get a bottle of Coca Cola for 5 cents, no matter where he was or how much it cost the company".

In 1943, another level was reached. In a telegram dated June 29, 1943, addressed to Coca Cola HQ in Atlanta, General Dwight Eisenhower requested the installation of 10 mobile bottling plants, the delivery of 6 million bottles a month, and the equipment and resources needed to provide fresh Coke to American GIs.

Six months after the message, the first bottling plants were built. Before long, 148 Coca Cola representatives join the ranks of the armed forces as "Technical Observers" or TOs. They were given military uniforms, treated like officers and given a single responsibility: to serve Coca-Cola to all GIs, wherever they were. Soon, they were nicknamed the "Coca Cola Colonels".

By war's end, over 5 billion bottles had been distributed to those in uniform, and 64 bottling lines built.