Today’s post comes from Joshua Cain, an archives technician at the National Archives in College Park, MD. It features digitized videos and images available in the National Archives Catalog highlighting North Platte’s role in World War II.
In the early to mid-1900s, North Platte, Nebraska, was a small farm town located on the Union Pacific railway line. As this 1925 aerial photo shows, there was not much to the town. But the Union Pacific station’s canteen, the building in the bottom left corner near the train tracks, played a large role on the home front during World War II.
North Platte, Nebraska, 1925. (National Archives Identifier 23942163)
On December 17, 1941, a National Guard company from Nebraska was set to arrive in North Platte via train. The townsfolk organized to meet them at the depot and offer them some gifts as an appreciation for their service. Well, the train arrived, but it wasn’t carrying a National Guard Company from Nebraska. Nope, this company came from Kansas. Regardless, the townsfolk still treated them like their own.
The next day, Rae Wilson, a resident of North Platte, wrote a letter to the local paper asking the community to help create a canteen for service members to enjoy a nice meal as they made their long journey east or west for training and then future deployment overseas to fight. Her request was answered by volunteers from North Platte and, eventually, 125 other surrounding communities.
The North Platte Canteen officially opened on December 25, 1941. It began in the Cody Hotel, but that was a bit too far from the depot, as the train only stopped for 10-15 minutes. Wilson was able to talk with Union Pacific railroad president William M. Jeffers about using the lunchroom at the station. Jeffers agreed and the volunteers relocated.
Trains arrived at the depot from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Volunteers prepared sandwiches, coffee, and even birthday cake for the troops during the quick break (as seen in the silent video below from 0:00 to 6:28). Volunteers also provided magazines and other reading materials for the troops. On some occasions, there was music in the air as troops or volunteers played the piano in the canteen.
The North Platte Canteen was a welcome break from the train journeys across the United States. Soldiers would spend days on overcrowded trains, often not having a seat of their own. One soldier’s postcard sent from the North Platte Canteen describes it well.
Just arrived at North Platte. Had roll and coffee. Train running late but will make it. Stood from Chicago to Omaha but finally got a seat.
Love, Ned
Page from Pennsylvania Railroad Depot and Baggage Room National Historic Landmark nomination. (National Archives Identifier 71986553)
As a train rolled out, another one would arrive. Every day was a busy day for both the service members and those who helped greet and feed them. The local communities wanted to help out as much as they could. One 12-year-old local boy even took the shirt off of his back at livestock auctions to help raise money for supplies for the canteen (as seen in the silent video below from 7:15 to 8:22). Often the buyer wouldn’t keep the shirt, and the boy was able to resell it again and again.
The North Platte Canteen operated until April 1, 1946, well after World War II ended. It is estimated that the small Nebraska town served six million troops during the 54 months it was running. Unfortunately, the building was demolished in 1973, and a plaque is the only recognition of its existence and contribution to the war effort.
For further reading, Bob Greene’s book, Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen offers accounts from the canteen volunteers and the service members who visited.
Great article. I did not know about the North Platte canteen. They really pulled together to help out the troops. As an aside, I could only get one of the embedded videos to work so I don’t know if it was my phone or a bad link.
I’m not sure which video is not working for you but both have links to the online catalog. You should be able to view and/or download them there.
A really interesting article! (Both videos worked perfectly for me, FYI.)
It is too bad people today are not as considerate as back then, our
boys that fight today are forgotten unless they have a disability.
Our young men who are over fighting for our freedom away from family
need to know that are thought of, write letters to them to let them know we are praying and thinking of them or just a postcard.
Yes!
Thank you for posting this. I grew up in Nebraska and know the North Platte Canteen remains a point of pride for the entire state.
Fantastic read.
Being raised around that area with a WWII father, this is a great read to know about community support for the troops just like him. He had to make a fair journey from SD to WI to be discharged after waiting 60 days for the massive influx of soldiers returning from the Pacific Theater of Operations to all be processed.
I am a volunteer at the Lincoln County Historical Museum in North Platte, Nebraska. We have a wonderful North Platte Canteen display at our museum along with a small village of historic buildings from Lincoln County.
The North Platte Canteen is a story of sacrifice and volunteerism beyond measure. My mother-in-law and her mother were two of the many 55,000 volunteers from across the state of Nebraska who were part of this war effort. The local communities donated all of the sandwiches, food, magazines, candy, fruit, birthday cakes, popcorn balls, etc., for the service men and women on the troop trains., using their own rations for sugar, gas, tires, and anything else to meet the demand for the troop trains.
Our archives were used by Mr. Bob Green to write his book, “Once Upon a Town”, and there are many more books on the Canteen in our museum gift shop.
I was on a troop train in 1946 and remember the stop there. So many ladies and handing out cookies and all kind of goodies.