Daily Bulletin | Sept. 26, 1945 Miss Rae Wilson worked on the platform at the Canteen yesterday with the same vigorous enthu- siasm as she did on Christmas Day in 1941 when the Canteen organization was born. She remarked about the distinct difference between the shanty near the viaduct which started out with “$10, ten boxes of apples and some candy the [Woolworth’s] dime store didn’t sell for Christmas” and the present Canteen in the dining room with its long tables heaped with all kinds of food and with an electric dishwasher and huge ice box in the kitchen. Miss Wilson is here from Los Angeles for a visit with relatives. Even after V-J Day, the Canteen Honor Roll kept expanding. Trumbull, a town straddling the Adams-Clay county line southeast of Grand Island, became the Canteen’s easternmost partner com- munity. Their serving volunteers went home with a story to tell. Telegraph | Sept. 26, 1945 Four young soldiers, looking quite dejected, en- tered the Canteen late Saturday and asked if there was any way the Canteen could make them a loan. Trumbull Chairman Bernard Kilne heard their story and asked them to repeat it for the Trumbull group. This was their story: Stationed in California after overseas duty, the four were given furloughs to go home. While they were discussing their plans, a civilian offered them
a ride as far as Chicago for the price of $30 each. This the boys accepted, but the tires started to blow out before the trip was well underway. By the time the group reached Provo, Utah, all four tires had blown out and engine trouble developed so that further progress was impossible. The four servicemen pooled their resources and had enough money to buy tickets as far as North Platte. Now, they said, they wanted to borrow enough money to go on to Chicago. Mrs. Walter [Daisy] Belzer, officer-of-the-day, called the Red Cross office, but before the home service secretary, Mrs. John [Mabel] Conrey, could get to the Canteen, the Trumbull folks had raised $73 and purchased four tickets to Chicago.
Telegraph Editor Bob Getty, husband of Canteen volunteer Lillas Getty, dedicated his regular editorial- page poetry to the Canteen on several occasions in its last months. This one appeared on Aug. 30, 1945. The North Platte Telegraph
As the troops kept flooding home, highly-ranked commendations flowed into the Canteen’s mailbox.
Telegraph | Oct. 2, 1945 A letter was received by Mrs. C.H. [Mary Ellen] Land from Vice Admiral A.S. Carpender, Navy Department, Headquarters Ninth Naval District, Great Lakes, Ill., and reads as follows: … Dear Mrs. Land: On behalf of the Naval personnel who have visited your Canteen, I congratulate the North Platte Canteen at the Union Pacific Depot, North Platte, Nebraska, for outstanding service rendered to the men and women of the Navy. My thanks go through you to the paid staff and
With the war over, the Canteen’s founder returned home. Though the following excerpts say Rae Wilson was coming to North Platte for “a visit,” she in fact extended her stay to be part of the Canteen once more in its closing months. Daily Bulletin | Sept. 25, 1945 Miss Rae Wilson arrived Sunday from Los Angeles, Calif., for a visit with her sister-in-law, Mrs. Denver Wilson, and family.
110 CANTEEN: AS IT HAPPENED
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