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The photo to the left is from the Union Pacific Railroad.
Each day between December 25, 1941 and April 1946, numerous troop trains stopped in North Platte. Because North Platte is a UP hub, these trains refueled, changed wheels (different wheels are needed to get over the Rockies), and gave the servicemen a chance to stretch their legs and fill their stomachs with homemade delicacies. Most stops were less than twenty minutes. Occasionally, they'd slip to almost 40 minutes.
During that brief stop, the people of North Platte, western Nebraska, and nearby communities in Kansas and Colorado adopted those boys. One woman launched this massive volunteer effort when she stepped to the front of the platform on December 17, 1941, and shared the gifts she had brought for her brother's national guard unit with Kansas troops instead.
1 comment:
Saw a PBS show on the Canteen just a few months ago. I'm looking forward to a more personal view of it in your story.
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