Closing of the Canteen [ - April 1, 1946]
A workman lowers the canteen sign to Rae Wilson (left) and Helen Christ as C.H. Land steadies the ladder. Mrs. Christ died in 1956. Rae Wilson-Sleight died in 1986.
V-J Day and the end of World War II was celebrated at the North Platte Canteen in the same manner every day was observed - with plenty of work and smiles. Unlike other canteens, Victory Day did not mean a quick end at North Platte. The center operated for another eight months with a new mission of providing a welcome to returning veterans. With volunteers pressed to serve the tremendous volume of redeployed and discharged personnel, supporters continued to respond with food and cash. However, by January 1946, canteen workers noted support was waning and, with many veterans already home, they voted then to close April 1, 1946.Canteen activities April 1 went on as usual. Hosts of the day were Lutheran women's groups from Gothenburg and North Platte. Sixteen trains with servicemen came through. Edwin G. Adams, a sailor from Pennsylvania, was last to claim a canteen-provided birthday cake.
Some closing observance was made. Canteen workers gave young fund-raiser Gene Slattery a new shirt with instructions not to sell it. Canteen originator Rae Wilson had returned from California, and with Chairman Helen Christ, locked the center's front doors at 5:55 p.m., concluding 51 months of continuous operation during which more than six million servicemen and women were helped.
The spirit would persist. Volunteers who returned the next day to clean up were interrupted by several servicemen unaware that the canteen had closed. They were given a pot of coffee the women had prepared for themselves.
On August 14, 1946, North Platte hosted a Canteen Reunion celebration in which volunteers from all 125 surrounding communities were honored. About 20,000 turned out in tribute to a gift given to six million.
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