The war was over.  John Hodge had completed his military service, proudly serving at Harlingen Army Air Field in Texas.  He had graduated from Alabama Polytechnic University -now know as Auburn University- with a degree in engineering and was working for Lockheed Aircraft Corporation.  These events set the stage for what was to become Hodge Army Navy. 

Full of entrepreneural spirit, John began pedaling tools and other items from his famous panel truck, a 1948 Chevrolet.  This side business became so popular that he was able open a brick-and-mortar store in downtown Cartersville, Georgia.  The year was 1955 and Hodge Army Navy was well on its way to many successful years. 

Throught the 60s and 70s several other locations were opened in the Atlanta area including Marietta, Cartersville, Mableton, Smyrna, Buckhead and Toco Hills. John operated under the mantra "buy anything, sell everything" and was well know as the place to go for that hard-to-find item. 

Throughout the years, Hodge Army Navy has supplied items of interest to a variety of customers from famous to infamous including music's Andre 3000, wrestling's Kevin Nash, country music's Mark Wills, television's "Webster", movie sets such as The War starring Kevin Costner, and most recently to our friend Alton Brown of the Food Network show "Good Eats" who turned one of our Swedish pantry crates into a smoker.