Reproduced here with permission of the North Platte Telegraph.  

Front Page

Weather

Sports

Obits

Comics

Want Ads

Subscribe

Email

Neb-Online

Gary Reber North Platte Telegraph Editorial — Friday, July 25, 1997

As youngsters, most people are taught to do kind things: help a little old lady across the street, give generously to your church or do a good deed each day.

If North Platte residents ever wonder if a good deed is noticed, appreciated or worth the effort, they ought to have learned that lesson decades ago. North Platte has been my home for a few months now and I've already heard many people recall the days of the North Platte Canteen and how it helped so many people.

Stella Drullinger of North Platte recently received a letter from a friend in Minnesota. Alfred Miller of Blaine, Minn., wrote about a fellow Blaine resident who has fond memories of North Platte.

“During World War II we were reading in some of the large papers about a train that stopped in the depot at North Platte with a load of soldiers and all the people of that town fed all the soldiers on that train. ...” One of these soldiers, Larry Nelson, lives in Blaine. I see him most every day of the week at a restaurant at noon.

Whenever the word Nebraska is mentioned in his presence he will bring up North Platte and talk about how good they treated the soldiers. They were never treated that good anyplace while he traveled around in the Army. He tells of the tubs of fried chicken, all the kinds of sandwiches, ice cream, cakes, pies, coffee, lemonade, and on and on.

“That is one good deed where goodness still lives in the mind of Larry.”

The Canteen was an amazing feat. Many women volunteered to staff the Canteen, which saw as many as 23 trains a day, carrying up to 8,000 servicemen and women. A volunteer effort of that magnitude and duration — the Canteen was in operation for about four and a half years — is incredible. The fact that North Platte, a much smaller community in 1941, could pull together that many resources makes an incredible statement.

A lot of information is available about the Canteen. In addition to an exhibit at the Lincoln County Historical Museum, Martin Steinbeck of North Platte has developed an extensive web site about the Canteen.

The site contains photos and articles as well as personal testimonies from people who used the Canteen more than 50 years ago.

For example, did you know:

• 125 communities were involved in operating the Canteen? North Platte got the ball rolling and many other communities pitched in to keep it going.
• Men’s groups and youth groups also helped raise money and cook food to keep the nation's service people fed on their way through Nebraska.
• Union Pacific Railroad also provided space and manpower to operate the Canteen.
• During its 54 months of operation, the Canteen fed more than 6 million members of the United States' armed services.

And Steinbeck’s efforts have generated a lot of interest. Since he made his web site available to the world, he has had as many as 300 people a day look at the Canteen information.

To see the Canteen website, people should point their browser to the following Internet address: http://npcanteen.tripod.com/.

Here's what some of the people who have seen the Canteen web site have told Steinbeck.

• “I still remember happy times at the Canteen in North Platte during WWII — they had the biggest sandwiches I have ever seen!” Ed Fauss, Eufaula, Okla.
• “I was a GI and thank the canteen for their service when my train stopped there ... it brings back emotional memories. I must say that one of the boys faked a birthday and we all got a piece of chocolate cake. I am 75 years old now.” John Hook, O'Brien, Fla.
• “I remember when the city tore the old canteen down. It sure raised a big stink here in town. I wish there was some way that we could rebuild and correct this huge mistake.” Brenda Smith, North Platte.
• “I used to go to the Canteen with my mother during the war. I remember being back in the kitchen helping to make sandwiches. It is a fond memory.” Ruth (Eaton) Haase, Lincoln.

Who would have thought a simple gesture more than 50 years ago would have such a long-lasting impact? You just never know when a good deed might last for a lifetime.

EDITOR'S NOTE — For people who do not have Internet access, the public library is online and will allow patrons to surf the Internet for free. They can even help beginners — so give it a try.

The library is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday and Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

Any Lincoln County resident can get a library card and use the public library's services.

Gary Reber is executive editor of The Telegraph.

Search this site or the web powered by FreeFind Site search Web search