Area Youth Contributed to the Canteen's Success
Young entertainers such as Ken Richards, left, and Floyd Picard would perform for the service personnel in the canteen.
In 1942, it was estimated it took 2˝ cents to feed each soldier at the canteen. By 1943, monthly costs for canteen supplies were about $1,000. By July 1945, as troop movements increased with the redeployment of troops returning from Europe, monthly costs escalated to $5,000.To meet these costs, cash contributions for the canteen came from all sources: benefit dances, scrap metal drives, school victory clubs, donation cans in local businesses, etc. Donations were also sent from around the country by the relatives of servicemen who had visited, and from total strangers stirred by the endeavor.
John Eugene Slattery would literally sell the shirt off his back at public auction, from twice a week to twice a month, to raise canteen donations.
One of the most widely known canteen fund raisers was Gene Slattery of North Platte, who between the ages of 9 and 13 raised about $2,000 in donations at public auctions. Slattery auctioned off his pet animals, toys and - best remembered even the shirt off his back for the canteen. (As Slattery’s shirt sales caught on, area businessmen would donate shirts for him to sell.) For his efforts, Slattery was recognized in 1946 by the Coca-Cola Company on its “Big Little American” radio program.Canteen workers were proud to note that not one cent in funding came from any city, state or federal government source unless one counted the $5 sent by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Total cash donations during the canteen’s existence were about $137,000.
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