Edited by Gerald Boerner
Commentary:
We want to revisit last year’s main posting and present it to you so that you may appreciate how easy a community can provide for the needs of our armed forces. During the period following the Japanese on Pearl Harbor. The Union Pacific Railroad passed through the small, rural Nebraska town of North Platt. The women of the town heard that a train filled with Nebraska boys on their way to the West coast. These women decided to make cookies and coffee for these home state soldiers.
When the train arrived, it was found that it did not carry Nebraska soldiers after all. The cookies and coffee were given out none-the-less. Thereafter, the women continued to serve coffee, cookies, donuts, and sandwiches to each troop train that passed through. The soldiers were given ten minutes to receive their refreshments. This continued through the end of the war.
The North Platt Canteen should be used as a model for our communities (church groups, service clubs, etc.) to provide for those in need. We hope that you and your friends will explore the possibilities.
So, let’s get along with our exploration of the women providing for the sons of other families… GLB
These Introductory Comments are copyrighted:
Copyright©2010 — Gerald Boerner — All Rights Reserved[ 1576 Words ]
Quotations Related to THANKS
“They made us feel we were heroes…”
— Marine Sgt. Vincent Anderson
“Since 1945 I have been trying to find a community that I and some others owe thanks to.”
— Joseph F. Mullane, Sergeant Major, US Army
“Many women volunteered to staff the Canteen, which saw as many as 23 trains a day, carrying up to 8,000 servicemen and women.”
— Gary Reber
“The kindness of your people for that day has stayed with me and always will. I am most grateful. It was one of the most wonderful things that happened during my lifetime.”
— Joseph F. Mullane, Sergeant Major, US Army
“During World War II we were reading in some of the large papers about a train that stopped in the depot at North Platte with a load of soldiers and all the people of that town fed all the soldiers on that train. …”
— Larry Nelson
“We followed the group of civilians into the main waiting room of the station where we were dumbfounded to say the least. We discovered several tables with tablecloths and many more civilians, men and women, who had been waiting for us and had before us a feast.”
— Joseph F. Mullane, Sergeant Major, US Army
“If North Platte residents ever wonder if a good deed is noticed, appreciated or worth the effort, they ought to have learned that lesson decades ago. North Platte has been my home for a few months now and I’ve already heard many people recall the days of the North Platte Canteen and how it helped so many people.”
— Gary Reber
“My point is that the stories that make our town, or any town, unique do not preserve themselves. Someone had to want a museum, and someone like Janet McDonald had to provide the seed money that made it happen by generating many more dollars in donated funds and labor.”
— Keith Blackledge, of the attempt to create a Museum to the Canteen
Supporting Our Troops — North Platt Canteen
From December 25, 1941 until April 1, 1946 more than 6 million servicemen and women who traveled through Nebraska during World War II fondly remember the hospitality of the North Platte Canteen where every troop train was met by volunteers who prepared and served sandwiches, coffee, cookies, cakes, and other homemade ‘goodies’ during stops there. This site is in honor of those servicemen and women, the Canteen and its volunteers as a reminder of its proud past; an opportunity to look back in time.
In the frenzy that followed the attack on Pearl Harbor a rumor spread throughout North Platte, Nebraska, that members of the Nebraska National Guard would be passing through town on their way to the West Coast and to the War. With spontaneous patriotism, hundreds of local citizens congregated at the depot on December 17, 1941 to greet the soldiers with food, coffee, and cigarettes.
When the train arrived, the crowd was surprised and somewhat disappointed to find that it contained troops from Kansas, not Nebraska. But disappointment could not overpower the desire of those assembled to help, and permission was obtained to distribute the materials that were collected to the appreciative troops.
Telling the Story
Continuing the Story
Among the hundreds of people that showed up to greet the soldiers was a young woman named Rae Wilson. She was struck with the effect that the towns greeting had on the soldiers. In the letter to the editor of the North Platte Telegraph, she suggested that the community continue meeting the trains to give the young men and women on their way to War one last taste of home.
People in three states took up Rae Wilson’s challenge. For better than four years, day in and day out over 50,000 people contributed time, food, money, and effort in one of the proudest moments of the civilian history of the second World War.
The following article appeared in the North Platte Telegraph Monday, September 17, 1973 and is reproduced here with their permission.
To 6 million troops, Canteen was a few fleeting moments of ‘home’
There was hope, then disappointment, then genuine pleasure all in the space of a few hours on Dec. 17, 1941 in the hearts of hundreds of mothers, friends and sweethearts of the men of Nebraska’s 134 Infantry.
It all came about as a result of the “grapevine”. Early the morning of Dec. 17 the story got around that a troop train, taking soldiers of the 134th from Camp Robinson to an unknown destination, would pass through North Platte about 11 a.m.
A small group gathered at the Union Pacific station and waited. Shortly after noon, a train pulled in, but it wasn’t that of the 134th Infantry. Word passed that the boys would surely arrive at 3 p.m. A larger crowd had gathered at this time, only to hear that a troop train would not arrive in North Platte until 4:30 p.m.
By this time, the grapevine had run its course and no less than 500 relatives and friends of local men in the service huddled together at the depot. Baskets of fruit, cartons of cigarettes, Christmas gifts and fruit cakes were on hand everywhere.
Boys are welcomed
At last the train arrived. A whoop of joy arose from the throng as open windows in the train revealed soldiers. Only they weren’t members of the 134th. But the sight of the smiling lads, their friendly spirits and their joy at seeing such a reception was too much for the crowd. They gathered around the boys, burdened them down with the gifts they had brought for their own sons, and wished them well.
As the train left, the boys waved gaily good-bye, thumbs were sticking up out of open windows and mothers were dabbing their eyes with handkerchiefs. Some weren’t bothering about the hankies, just crying and not caring who saw them.
In the happy group that jammed the depot, no one was more thrilled than a pretty 26-year-old Rae Wilson, a drugstore sales girl whose brother commanded one of the companies supposedly on the troop train.
An institution is bornAs Rae Wilson walked home, an idea began to take shape: Why not meet all the trains going through North Platte and give other boys the same sort of send-off?
The next day, following the visit of the troop train, Miss Wilson suggested that a canteen be opened to make the trips of soldiers through the city more entertaining. She offered her services without charge. Her public-spirited and generous offer was contained in the following communication to The Daily Bulletin:
That day she took time off from her job and got busy. She called practically everyone in town, asking the merchants for candy, magazines, tobacco and anything else they would give; lining up the housewives to contribute cakes and cookies; and getting the younger women to promise to be on hand at the station to dish up coffee and conversation for the boys.
The numbers are staggering! Over the course of 51 months, almost 55,000 volunteers from nearly 125 communities served 6,000,000 service men and women. Day in, day out, from early in the morning until the last train would leave at night, between 2,000 and 5,000 soldiers and sailors would be fed nearly 200 loaves of bread, 100 pounds of meat, 50 pounds of coffee, two gross of rolls, and over 100 quarts of milk.
More than 300 organizations made sandwiches, boiled eggs, fried chickens, and baked cakes, pies, and cookies. Tens of thousands of magazines eased the boredom. War wounded were provided with razors, canes, tooth brushes, and care baskets to make their return home a welcome one.
Please take time to further explore more about NORTH PLATT (NEBRASKA),
NORTH PLATT CANTEEN, UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD, and SERVING WORLD
WAR II SERVICEMEN by accessing the Wikipedia articles referenced below…
References
Background information is from Wikipedia articles on:
Wikipedia: North Platt, Nebraska…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Platte,_Nebraska
Wikipedia: North Platt Canteen…
http://www.npcanteen.net/
Wikipedia: Union Pacific Railroad…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_Railroad
Other Posts on this Topic:
Prof. Boerner’s Exploration: North Platte (NE) Canteen…
http://www.boerner.net/jboerner/?p=6202
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