The letter was signed by James C. Cusick SF 2c, Station Hospital, Camp Peary, Va. Telegraph | Dec. 31, 1943 A young man walked into the Canteen this morn- ing, and when one of the ladies asked him if there was anything they could do for him, he laughed and said, “you do not remember me, but I came through here many months ago when I was being transferred from one hospital to another after I had my back broken and a leg badly crushed in a plane accident. You ladies treated me so nice, I just had to stop and again thank you.” Though this account comes from North Platte’s postwar Canteen celebration, it further illumi- nates just why millions of service members cher- ished the Canteen. Telegraph (special edition) | Aug. 14, 1946 Women working at the desk wrote all types of cards and letters for servicemen who had no time to do so or sent all kinds of telegrams for those who had too short a time in North Platte to send them themselves. Birthday and anniversary greet- ings were mailed or wired, and sometimes the women were requested to wire flowers for special occasions. They mailed packages back home to parents, husbands, wives, sweethearts and children of the servicemen and women. Often a member of the armed forces would want to place a long-distance call but would be so excited
needle and thread. Many hours were accumulated by the Canteen workers who sewed on buttons or mended tears and rips in clothing. The women who worked on the platform, too, had a big job directing the boys to the Canteen and distributing fruit, matches and candy bars to those who were unable to go into the Canteen. One of their biggest jobs, however, was answering many thousands of questions. They told over many thousands of times the story of the North Platte Canteen. They became experts on the history, geography, climate and other phases of North Platte and Nebraska. They answered questions on population, agriculture [and] the distance and time from North Platte to other points or from coast to coast. … These women worked in the rain and sleet, the snow and wind. They worked in the cold of the night and the heat of the day, winter and summer, for more than four years. Telegraph | Jan. 8, 1944 The annual statement of cash receipts and disburse- ments for the North Platte Canteen [shows] cash on hand in [the] bank Dec. 31, 1943, [of] $3,853.31. The report reveals that almost $2,000 per month in cash is spent for the operation of the Canteen. It is almost impossible to estimate the amount of food items and other articles donated by the many groups working at the Canteen but it will run into thousands of dollars a year. … Continued on page 72
The North Platte Telegraph
or in such a hurry that he did a fine job of bungling it or confusing the operator. Here, the Canteen women took over and got the call through. The women of the Canteen made every effort to locate someone in or around North Platte when a friend in the armed forces came through and wanted to talk with them in the short 10-minute lay-over in North Platte. When it was impossible to make contact, the Canteen women took a mes- sage and made sure it was delivered. More personal services were rendered when a boy came into the Canteen with a headache, a cold, something in his eye, a toothache, earache, sore throat, infection or a burn and was given first-aid treatment for these minor injuries, enabling him to continue his travels in a greater degree of comfort. And it seemed that none of those great, strap- ping, uniformed youths knew how to handle a
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