Canteen Food Statistics
North Platte women prepare some of the approximate 4000 sandwiches that were served daily.
Statistics on the amount of food contributed and used on a daily basis at the canteen visibly illustrates how, despite wartime food rationing, North Platte area residents believed in the center's merit.An average daily shopping list for the canteen included 160 to 175 loaves of bread, 100 pounds of meat plus 15 pounds of cheese and two quarts of peanut butter and other sandwich spreads; 45 pounds of coffee, 40 quarts of cream, 500 half-pint bottles of milk; and 25 dozen rolls.
Women from Sarben, Neb. take magazines and baskets of treats to service personnel unable to detrain.
Whether by word of mouth from servicemen or by nation-spanning radio broadcasts, a world heard of the generosity being demonstrated at North Platte, Neb. Both civilian and military newspapers in many lands devoted stories to the canteen, while articles about it appeared in major U.S. publications such as Liberty Magazine and Reader's Digest. Considerable news copy resulted from an April 1945 visit by news correspondents of the time who were traveling to San Francisco to cover the World Security conference.Two major accreditations were given the canteen by the U.S. military. It was awarded the War Department's Meritorious Wartime Service Award in a canteen ceremony on December 19, 1943, during the first coast-to-coast radio broadcast from North Platte over NBC radio. In August 1945, the Army Signal Corps filmed the canteen's activities for inclusion in a documentary on Nebraska that was shown at military installations overseas.
With the Union Pacific then a busy transcontinental route for public travel, many famous or slated to be famous celebrities are said to have visited the canteen. Those who did included Canadian Prime Minister McKenzie King, movie mogul Cecil B. De Mille, and bakery expert Betty Crocker (as portrayed by Marjorie Husted).
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