Before Dec. 7, 1941, the day that would ‘live in infamy,’ the Pearl Harbor Commissary served its patrons with the benefit they needed
NOTE: To download photos from DeCA’s Flickr page, click here. To see the Department of Defense’s anniversary coverage of the Pearl Harbor attack, click here.
FORT GREGG-ADAMS, Va. – Eighty-three years ago on Dec. 7, 1941, at 7:48 a.m., about 360 Japanese planes attacked U.S. military bases on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu, specifically targeting the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor.
Two waves of fighters, bombers and torpedo planes launched from six aircraft carriers north of Oahu. In addition to striking Pearl, the Japanese also hit other military bases, including Wheeler Field located next to Schofield Barracks. When the attack was over, 2,403 Americans had been killed – 2,008 being sailors.
In the days leading up to the attack, the service members at Pearl Harbor had a full service, well-stocked commissary operated by the Navy Ships’ Store Office. The price list for goods sold in the store had just been updated on Nov. 1, 1941.
Commissaries in those days had a much simpler design than the modern ones of today. Patrons entered through one door and exited through another. As patrons entered the store, they showed their commissary card to an employee seated at a station by the door. Service men and women had a separate ID card for every activity on base, whether it was the bowling alley, exchange, movie theatre or commissary.
The store featured bins filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, aisles of canned goods, cereal, and specialty areas including a full-service butcher shop and a deli counter with smoked meats, cheeses, hams and lunch meats. Patrons could purchase several products in bulk from the store. There were coolers filled with fresh milk and dairy products behind the fresh produce section.
The windows were usually open for ventilation, helped along by large ceiling fans. There were also small metal fans in the butcher shop, deli, and bakery which ran nearly every day.
Some of the families on Pearl Harbor had children, but the youngest were not allowed in the commissary in 1941. Instead, they were left with sitters at home or the commissary had in-house babysitters who looked after the children while their parents shopped.
The checkout counter was high off the floor, so many customers had to lift their hand baskets of groceries onto the platform to pay for their items.
After the attack on Dec. 7, a number of buildings on Pearl Harbor were damaged, but the commissary was spared. Most of the damage centered on the ships and aircraft.
Although it survived the air raid unscathed, the store was later destroyed by fire in June 1950. In response, commissary sales were set up in a converted medical facility while the Navy built a replacement store.
In November 1956, the new Pearl Harbor Commissary opened with a product inventory of 3,000 line items, parking spaces for 450 cars, refrigerated and freezer cases, 16 checkout lanes and modern air conditioning – a luxury quite unique at the time.
Customers in this commissary had to take their cashier tape to a central station in the store, pay for their groceries, then pick their groceries up after showing their receipt. The Pearl Harbor store had baggers called parcel boys who worked for tips, carrying groceries out for customers.
Today’s Pearl Harbor Commissary, built on Oct. 25, 2002, has 24 checkouts and 18,700 line items. Customers can use debit or credit cards, cash or checks to pay for their groceries when they checkout. In some cases, they can use self-checkouts to complete their transactions. And, yes, today’s store still has baggers and they still work for tips.
-DeCA-
About DeCA: The Defense Commissary Agency operates a worldwide chain of commissaries providing groceries to military personnel, retirees, disabled veterans and other authorized patrons and their families in a safe and secure shopping environment. Commissaries provide a military benefit, saving authorized patrons thousands of dollars annually on their purchases compared to similar products at commercial retailers. The discounted prices include a 5-percent surcharge, which supports the costs of building, modernizing and sustaining commissary facilities. A core military family support element and valued part of military pay and benefits, commissaries contribute to family readiness, enhance the quality of life for America’s military services and their families, and help recruit and retain the best and brightest men and women to serve their country.