pounds. The letters written by ladies in the KODY listening area were addressed to a man or woman in service and were given out during the day. Many of the men could not wait until they were on the train to open and read their letters. … On ordinary Saturday nights, when the doors of the Davis drug stores close, the personnel go their various ways and spend the night as they see fit. But last Saturday night was not an ordinary Saturday. As soon as the stores closed, eggs com- menced to boil and popcorn started to pop, and the rest of the night was spent in making ready the hard-boiled eggs and the [180] popcorn balls that the Davis dished out at the Canteen Sunday. “Bill” Davis said he did know how many eggs or popcorn balls the groups prepared, but the entire force spent all day Sunday passing them out as well as pouring coffee and giving out sandwiches. Between August 1943 and July 1944 alone, William Jeffers printed and donated 320,000 postcards bearing Canteen scenes for service members to send to loved ones. The next story shows they were doing their part to further spread the Canteen’s fame. Telegraph | May 11, 1944 A sailor walked into the Canteen Wednesday afternoon and asked if he might have a few of the post cards taken last fall as his picture was on one of them. He said he was visiting with a WAVE on the west coast recently and she told him she had
The Daily Bulletin’s editorial that day, written by Editor Charles H. Craig, disclosed an unexpected side effect of the Canteen’s fame. (The Bulletin’s reprint of Craig’s radio script appeared the morn- ing of June 6, 1944, before the launch of the D-Day invasion was known.) Daily Bulletin Editorial | April 25, 1944 A few days ago, the editor of The Bulletin was asked to telegraph 1,200 words of local news to New York for transmission overseas by the army news service to all theaters of war where Nebraska men are serving. The following reply from Captain William B. Murphy, officer in charge, is enlightening: “Dear Mr. Craig: “Supplementing my previous letter, I thought you would like to know that I have taken the liberty of including a little personal experience along with the North Platte material which you sent us for the ‘Your Town’ program. “Passing thru North Platte twice recently on a trip to and from the West Coast, I was greatly impressed with the excellent service which the North Platte people are giving at the Union Pacific station Canteen. This Canteen is rapidly becoming famous, and I thought you would like to know we are mentioning it in the ‘Your Town’ program which is widely used overseas.” So spreads word of the Canteen throughout the world.
This ad for North Platte’s annual May Ball, which had been held since the 1880s, appeared in The Telegraph on May 1, 1944. The North Platte Telegraph
Following its nationwide pre-Christmas broadcast, KODY-AM had begun 15-minute local broadcasts from the Canteen twice daily. The station also had become known for putting its own special touch on the Canteen’s birthday cake tradition. Telegraph | May 1, 1944 Station KODY personnel were busy all day [Sunday] cutting the huge May basket cake, pass- ing out letters to every member of the armed forces that could crowd up the table in the center of the Canteen. The cake, baked for KODY by the Project bakery, was a replica of a May basket and weighed 230
76 CANTEEN: AS IT HAPPENED
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