The ship is one of a series of new V-19 ships going into service in 1945, which will be named after cit- ies in the United States. Telegraph | Aug. 5, 1945 The Army Signal Corps, representing the Army Pictorial Service, expect to wind up picture-taking at the North Platte Canteen today. … The Signal Corps, upon completion of their work at the Canteen, will take pictures of farming operations, the harvest, combines at work and other phases of Nebraska activities which will interest the service- men who are fighting overseas. About 7:30 a.m. Japan time on Aug. 6, 1945 (about 4:30 p.m. Aug. 5 in North Platte), a B-29 Superfortress bomber dubbed “Enola Gay” (and built at the Martin Bomber Plant near Bellevue, site of today’s Offutt Air Force Base) dropped a single uranium bomb dubbed “Little Boy” over the Japanese industrial center of Hiroshima. After Aug. 6 dawned in the mainland United States, President Truman warned the Japanese to surrender or face a “rain of ruin.” Meanwhile, troop traffic through North Platte continued to accelerate. Daily Bulletin | Aug. 7, 1945 On Sunday, 27 trains passed thru the city and were served at the center. Yesterday, 23 trains were on the daily schedule. It was estimated on Sunday that 7,000 members of the armed forces had visited the institution.
The peak of troop movement is expected late this month and early September. Yesterday there were a couple of 20-car trains stopping here and the boys were truly hungry. As one put it, “We have only one diner on the train and most of us haven’t been able to reach it all day.” The Daily Bulletin, meanwhile, published the fol- lowing account of the christening of North Platte’s Victory Ship (next page).
Sailors leaving the Canteen to re-board their train.
While the Signal Corps filmed, North Platte learned of another large-scale “thank you”: the christening of a U.S. Merchant Marine “Victory Ship” (see front page, far right) for the Canteen’s hometown. It would remain in active service into the 1950s, bringing home the bodies of 156 Americans killed in the Korean War in 1954. Telegraph | Aug. 3, 1945 Friday … the S.S. North Platte Victory will be launched. The new ship will be christened com- memorating this city’s contributions to the war effort. Russell Langford, as a personal representative of Mayor S.P. McFarland, and acting as representa- tive of North Platte, will be present to participate in the launching and christening ceremonies and has been asked by the Maritime Commission to speak at the event. … The S.S. North Platte Victory was constructed by the California Shipbuilding Corporation in Wilmington, Calif., where she will be launched.
The North Platte Telegraph
102 CANTEEN: AS IT HAPPENED
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