But some of the ladies slipped her sister’s name in one of the Canteen’s popcorn balls, a measure taken to give soldiers passing through a female pen pal back in Nebraska. Virgil [Butolph], the soldier who received the popcorn ball, “didn’t want any of that foolishness,” Ethel said. He passed the name on to one of his buddies. But later he decided it’d be nice to have someone to write, and his buddy asked his pen pal if she had a sister. Ethel’s sister passed on the information, and Virgil and Ethel began exchanging letters until they met [and married] in 1944. … Ethel went to Bend, Oregon, to work at the post office until 1943. One day in 1944, she received a telegram from Virgil saying he would be [home] soon. Soon, he was in her family’s front yard in a borrowed car. On March 21, 1976, the couple traveled to Hershey to visit the sandhill cranes, as they did ev- ery year. On the way home, Virgil suffered a heart attack and died. The couple had four daughters and one son, and Butolph said her grandchildren are still coming. Though their progress had slowed since Paris’ liberation, Gen. Eisenhower’s armies were reaching the prewar German border by the end of October. In the Pacific, Gen. MacArthur had kept his 1942 “I shall return” promise when he waded ashore Oct. 20 onto the Philippine island of Leyte. Over the following week, the U.S. Navy
Barraclough, Bruce [Mae] Eshom and G.A. [Rose] Stevenson got busy on the telephone and called sev- eral other local ladies who dropped their work and came down to help out. By 1 o’clock some twenty women were on hand and things were running perfectly. Rev. Father [Patrick] McDaid [of St. Patrick Catholic Church] sent turkeys to the Canteen, so it was a real Thanksgiving Day with turkey and all for the service visitors yesterday. Several donations were received, and though trains were running somewhat late, the ladies were on duty all day. The Telegraph’s first December issue also in- cluded notes on an unusual request for Canteen donations. As always, North Platte was quick to respond. Telegraph | Dec. 1, 1944 Requests for an unusual Canteen donation were made by Mrs. A.M. [Helen] Christ and Mrs. Charles [Jessie] Hutchens, officer-of-the-day at the North Platte Canteen, when they said they have had several calls from wounded servicemen for canes and walking sticks. The women said that the men sometimes do not receive canes or lose them in traveling. “If I just had a walking stick, I could get around without help,” one wounded soldier told Mrs. Hutchens.
destroyed much of what was left of the Japanese fleet in the massive Battle of Leyte Gulf. On every fighting front, Allied service members were advancing, liberating — and dying. The Canteen’s third Thanksgiving Day, which fell on Nov. 30 that year, brought bad weather that forced local workers to improvise in making sure troop-train visitors had plenty to eat. Telegraph | Dec. 1, 1944 Emergency calls for helpers at the North Platte Canteen went out over the airwaves of radio sta- tion KODY Thanksgiving Day when the group from Holyoke, Colo., who intended to serve on Thursday, were unable to get to North Platte due to road and weather conditions. Mrs. Charles [Jessie] Hutchens, officer of the day, said that vol- unteers and regular workers responded to the call in gratifying numbers and an anonymous donor generously donated 16 turkeys, 100 pumpkin and mincemeat pies, 20 pounds of cranberry sauce and 12 fruit cakes to provide a homelike Thanksgiving Day meal for servicemen and women en route through North Platte on Thanksgiving Day. The Daily Bulletin revealed the identity of the “anonymous donor,” who had a history of similar donations on previous Canteen Thanksgivings. Daily Bulletin | Dec. 1, 1944 The officers of the day, Mesdames Al [Lydia] Jensen, C.W. [Celia] Groves, Art [Margaret]
82 CANTEEN: AS IT HAPPENED
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