NEWS RELEASE
Defense Commissary Agency
Corporate Communications
1300 E Avenue, Fort Lee, VA 23801-1800
Tel: (804) 734-8000, Ext. 8-6105 DSN: 687-8000, Ext. 8-6105
FAX: (804) 734-8248 DSN: 687-8248
www.commissaries.com
Release Number: 61-18
Date: September 13, 2018
Media Contact: Kevin L. Robinson, public affairs specialist
Tel.: (804) 734-8000, Ext. 4-8773
E-mail: kevin.robinson@deca.mil
Happy birthday!
Commissaries honor Air Force’s 71 years of service
By Tamara Eastman,
DeCA historian
Note: To watch a video on DeCA’s YouTube page related to the Air Force, press the “Ctrl” key and click on the photo, or go to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzp1BZnv_jU.
For photos on DeCA’s Flickr page, go to
https://www.flickr.com/photos/commissary/sets/72157695208707830.
FORT LEE, Va. – On Sept.18, the U.S. Air Force will celebrate its 71st birthday. On that date in 1947, W. Stuart Symington, who had previously been the Assistant Secretary of War for Air, was sworn in as secretary for the newly created armed services branch, the U.S. Air Force.
The Army Air Forces was disbanded upon the creation of the U.S. Air Force, and the Air Force inherited the previous branch’s facilities, including their commissaries.
The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) salutes the Air Force community on their service’s anniversary, which from the start has been served by commissaries worldwide.
Air Force commissaries were initially supplied by the Army Quartermaster Corps until the Air Force took over running them independently. Shelf-stocking and commodity-purchasing decisions were made at store level.
The Air Force commissaries proved to be most beneficial to military families deployed overseas with the occupying forces in Japan and Germany.
The commissary benefit has helped greatly with the recruitment and retention of the all-volunteer military which went into effect in 1973. In 1976, the formation of the Air Force Commissary Service (AFCOMS) centralized control for all Air Force commissaries, which numbered 181 at the time, under one service, headquartered at Kelly Air Force Base, Texas.
As recently as the late 1980s, there was little standardization, no uniformity, no continuity of operations and no career path for commissary workers – civilian or military. DeCA was formed in October 1991, tasked with centralizing all of the service commissaries into one agency.
Today, DeCA provides the commissary benefit for all military services and provides patrons thousands of dollars in savings each year when compared to civilian supermarkets.
Since 1947 members of the United States Air Force have established a superb record of valor, sacrifice and honor and have served honorably during and after the Cold War, during the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and are still serving proudly today.
-DeCA-
