Chocolate Holds a Sweet Spot in our Hearts – and in U.S. Military History

ChocolateToday, October 28, 2014 is National Chocolate Day, and with Halloween just a few days away, many of us will be indulging in a bit of chocolatey goodness. But did you know that chocolate also played a significant role in U.S. military history?

During WWII, the U.S. Army worked with Hershey to develop custom ration bars of chocolate that came to be known as Ration D bars, tasking the chocolate giant to come up with a heat-resistant chocolate bar for troops serving in hot and humid tropical locations.

Hershey’s Tropical Chocolate Bar was born as a result — designed to hold up in temperatures as high as 120°F for up to an hour, and by the time the war had ended, Hershey had turned out almost 3.8 million bars for military consumption, and in recognition of its outstanding efforts, according to the Hershey Community Archives,

Photo via Hershey Community Archives

“Hershey Chocolate Corporation received the Army-Navy ‘E’ Production Award at a special ceremony held August 22, 1942. Quartermaster General, Major General Gregory, came to Hershey to present the corporation and Milton Hershey with the award of achievement. At the Award ceremony, Major General Edmond B.Gregory noted the company’s achievements stating, ‘The men and women of Hershey Chocolate Corporation have every reason to be proud of their great work in backing up our soldiers on the fighting fronts.”

Hershey’s collaboration with the military did not end with WWII. During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Hershey once again sent our troops chocolate bars —  almost 150,000 bars crafted from an experimental chocolate engineered to withstand temperature in excess of 140 °F.

According to reports, however the reviews were mixed and full production mode was never launched, although for a limited time, civilians had the chance to sample the desert-proof bars when the remainder were re-packaged in camo-covered wrappers and sold in select markets as the Desert Bar.

M&Ms, the candy that melts in your mouth rather than in your hands, were once exclusively manufactured for consumption by U.S. military troops serving in WWII, and were a hit with the American GIs who found them included with their C-rations.

Screenshot of an M&M’s ad announcing the candies being exclusive to the US military during WWII. (Original source: M&M’s official site, shared via Atlas Repro Paperwork)

Forrest Mars, whose father founded the Mars Corporation, wanted to create a version of sweet popular with soldiers during the Spanish Civil war in the 1930’s – a chocolate that was covered in a hard shell to keep it from melting.  He partnered with Bruce Murrie, the son of another up and coming chocolate manufacturer, the Hershey Corporation.  With Mars’ idea and Murrie’s capital – which paved the way for the candies to be filled with Hershey’s chocolate – M&M’s candies were born.

Tip: Want to help boost the morale of our deployed troops this year? Check out these good ideas for dealing with all that extra Halloween candy your kids haul home this year.

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