NORTH PLATTE CANTEEN

On December 7, 1941 a rumor went around North Platte that at 11 a.m. the National Guard Troop, 134th Infantry would be passing through town by passenger train. Family and friends began to gather on the platform of the Train Depot to wait for them to arrive. Family and friends had put together baskets for their loved ones whom were to be aboard the train. Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor and emotions were high. When the train did arrive shortly after Noon, it was to much disappointment to the crowd that the 134th Infantry was not aboard, it was a troop out of Kansas instead. The Family and friends decided to wait for the 3 p.m. train thinking their loved ones would surely be aboard that train. By the time this train arrived around 4:30 p.m. the crowd had grown to over 500 people and there were baskets everywhere. These baskets contained fruits, fruit cakes, sandwiches, cartons of cigarettes, cookies, and Christmas gifts for the family who was supposed to be aboard the train.

When the train arrived around 4:30 p.m. the soldiers seen the crowd gathered on the platform as they came closer and closer to the depot, they began whooping and hollering out their windows. The people on the platform were so touched they gathered around the servicemen and flooded them with the gift baskets that they brought for their own family that didn't arrive that day. The people then bid the servicemen Good Bye and said prayers for them as the train pulled away.

Rae Wilson was among the group of people waiting for the servicemen to come through. As she walked home after the train left the station she began thinking about how great it would be if there could be someone to meet each train of servicemen. Miss. Wilson wrote a letter to the editor of the Daily Bulletin (North Platte Telegraph), suggesting the community continue meeting the troop trains to give the service men and women a last taste of home on their way to war. She offered her services without charge and took some time off from work in order to organize the Canteen. Miss Wilson contacted the local merchants asking for donations of candy, magazines, tobacco and anything else they would contribute to the servicemen. Miss Wilson then lined up housewives to contribute cookies, cakes, and sandwiches. Miss Wilson also got younger women to promise to serve at the station, coffee, food and conversation with the servicemen. People from 3 states took Miss Wilson's challenge and donated food, time and money.

Eight days later on Christmas Day of 1941, a Troop Train arrived and the Canteen was ready to serve the servicemen. There was total surprise to the troops to be met with food and smiles. This had to of lifted the spirits of the troops. I am sure that the troops would of rather been at home with their families and friends. I can't imagine how hard of a day this day had to be for the soldiers.

The Canteen began in the Cody Hotel and the items were walked back and forth to the train station at first. Then later the railroad let them use a little shack along side the tracks. This made serving the servicemen much easier and saved a lot of steps for the volunteers. One day Miss Wilson cornered the president of the railroad, William M. Jeffers, asking for a better spot for the Canteen. A few days later the Mr. Jeffers ordered the large dining room in the depot to be turned over to the Canteen. Some days there would be as many as 23 trains and as high as 8000 servicemen and women go through the Canteen. For over 4 years the Canteen served over 6 million servicemen and women that traveled through North Platte, NE on the troop trains. During that time there was over 50,000 people contributed time, food, and money to the Canteen. Even President Roosevelt sent a$5.00 donation to the Canteen. The canteen was funded by donations only.

On 4/1/1946, was the last day for the Canteen to be open. There were 16 trains scheduled to arrive and the Lutheran Church of Gothenburg, NE and North Platte, Ne furnished the food and served the service personnel from the trains. The Canteen sign was taken down and the doors locked after the last train. The Canteen was in operation for 54 months. Servicemen and women from all over the world wrote letters of thanks to the women who operated the Canteen.