Birthday Cake Tradition
At Sutherland, Neb., women look on, Lyda Swenson of North Platte presented Army PFC Clifton Hill of San Luis Obispo, Calif., with a cake in 1942.
The best remembered North Platte Canteen tradition, which started in 1942, was the free distribution of entire birthday cakes to any serviceman or woman who happened to visit there on his or her birthday. An average of 20 cakes were given away daily, with up to 600 cakes given away monthly. Former canteen workers indicate cake distribution was always done on the honor system.Canteen birthday cake stories abound. One serviceman, who lied that it was his birthday, reportedly later became conscious stricken and gave his cake to a polio-stricken child on his train. Area children gave up their own birthday cakes to the canteen, while some of the women corresponded for years afterward with the recipients of their cakes. In at least one instance, a sailor coincidentally visited the center two years apart on his birthday and was given cakes on both occasions.
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