Daily Bulletin | Dec. 24, 1943 By Larry Hayes
No one would guess at the number of presents that were passed out Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but all agree that hundreds more men are pass- ing through North Platte today than there were a year ago, and today only a small number of the thousands of presents that were piled high at the Canteen are resting on a small table at the desk. Now among the usual flood of letters about the Canteen’s consistently unusual generosity were notes from people who had heard the NBC broadcast. Telegraph | Dec. 28, 1943 A native Nebraskan … was a proud listener to the broadcast of the meritorious service citation at the North Platte Canteen Sunday, December 19. … “Being a former resident of Grand Island, and one who knows the closeness of the boundaries of the state and the peoples within any por- tion of the state, allow me to in my meager way thank you all for the necessary efforts you have so willingly put forth in order to gain for North Platte, and in fact all the swell state of Nebraska, this high honor. “There are several men in this hospital ward, but the only [other one] from Nebraska had just left for his home in Omaha, and it was with great pride that I attracted the attention of all to the broadcast during the presentation. “Keep up the good work, your efforts are not going unnoticed.”
With their nationally broadcast award on display, the Canteen workers marked their institution’s birthday by honoring their 57 allied regional com- munities — a number that would more than double before the 1946 closing — and once again handing out Christmas gifts to their uniformed visitors.
… The brilliant success of the Canteen has gained worldwide fame and popularity for North Platte and this community, and today a Roll of Honor will be installed over the Canteen door with the names of all the towns and communities that have contributed to the cause. … Each month has seen an increasing amount of visitors to the Canteen, and it has been esti- mated that over 1,000,000 men have been shown our hospitality. With each increase, the community has risen to the task and no plea has fallen on deaf ears. With the continued assistance and support of the public in providing the food items and the financial sup- port, the Canteen will continue to do its part on the home front. Telegraph | Dec. 27, 1943 The third Christmas since the organization of the North Platte Canteen has passed into history. But what a contrast between the first Christmas, when a small group of local women huddled around a small stove in a switchman’s shanty at the end of the [Union Pacific Depot] platform and passed out apples to the few men in service that passed through during the day, with Saturday when the Gothenburg community moved in with trucks loaded with good things to eat, hundreds of Christmas presents and a [new] loud speaker sys- tem to tell the world they were on the job.
A Northwestern Bell Telephone Co. employee poses with an early version of the magnetic sign listing the Canteen Honor Roll communities. It allowed volunteers to mark which communities were serving on a given day.
70 CANTEEN: AS IT HAPPENED
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