It is not planned to make any formal solicitation for funds until after the first of the year. Business houses will not be solicited but any donations from them will be gratefully received. Shortly after Jan. 1 Miss Wilson hopes to contact all clubs and organi- zations in the city so that the good work may go on. The war news was dark indeed on Christmas Day 1941. U.S. and Philippine Commonwealth officials had abandoned Manila two days before. Wake Island had fallen to the Japanese. The British surrendered Hong Kong as Dec. 25 began in Asia. Some hours later, the doors of North Platte’s Union Pacific Depot swung open as a troop train halted for a water stop (next page). The Daily Bulletin’s unsigned column, “’Round the Town with the Prowler,” would regularly offer candid glimpses inside the Canteen.
Volunteers at the magazine table, January 1942. From left: Rose Loncar, Rae Wilson, Mae Eshom, Edwina Barraclough, Lydia Jensen.
Daily Bulletin | Dec. 25, 1941 “’Round the Town with the Prowler”
Daily Bulletin | Dec. 24, 1941 At a meeting yesterday of the committee in charge of the Canteen for soldiers passing thru North Platte, it was determined to open the Canteen Christmas Day as previously planned and to keep it open daily until Sunday, if finances permit. Miss Rae Wilson, chairman, said last night the first donation from a business house came yesterday when Brown-McDonald’s gave $10 to the cause. A donation of $2 was received from the Artificial Ice and Coal company. Total amount in the fund last night amounted to $28, Miss Wilson said.
Donations to the amount of $15 have been re- ceived by the committee. This fund will be used to purchase treats for soldiers who may pass thru the city Christmas Day. Tentative plans of the Canteen organization call for volunteers to be on duty at the station 24 hours a day. The Canteen will necessarily be operated from donations by organizations and individu- als. The committee plans to contact every club and other organization in the city to that end in the near future.
Miss Rae Wilson and those who were assisting her in planning for the opening of the soldier’s Canteen today got a real thrill last night when Manager E.B. Wakefield of Woolworth’s sent over a donation of some ten bushel baskets crammed with candies and novelties left from the Christmas sale. Every item will be appreciated by the sol- diers, Miss Wilson said. She asks that volunteers from the American Legion Auxiliary and V.F.W. [Veterans of Foreign Wars] auxiliary with cars
Continued on page 28
26 CANTEEN: AS IT HAPPENED
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