North Platte Canteen – WWII – Cory and Nicole Family History

When we look at the WWII era, it seems like the primary focus is on the servicemen, their sacrifices and military records. That is all fascinating information and worth searching, but sometimes the ladies at home have their own interesting stories.

North Platte, Nebraska 20th Century Veterans Memorial – Photo from their Facebook Page

I just finished reading “Once Upon a Town” by Bob Green discussing what the book cover calls The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen. North Platte, Nebraska is in the western part of Nebraska, and really the heart of small town America. The nutshell version of the canteen is that it started in December of 1941 when some of the town met the troop train for what they thought would be Nebraska National Guard Company D and give them Christmas presents. To their surprise, it was Kansas Company D. They gave those men the things that had been brought to the station, and an idea was born. From December 1941 until April 1946 the ladies operating the canteen met every single troop train and gave food, coffee, magazines, and hope to the servicemen who were traveling through. The Lincoln County Nebraska Museum states that during this time 6 million troops were served, none were charged any money, and not a single train was missed.

These ladies and their families from towns all over Western Nebraska sacrificed their time, their rations and a lot of things to meet and honor the traveling soldiers.

My Grandmother Maxine Kallsen Mauser and her mother Meta Dehning Kallsen were part of this effort during “Big Springs Day”. I spoke to Grandma about it and she remembers going several times as a teenager to the canteen and how much fun it was. The girls would visit with the soldiers and Grandma admits that they put their names and address in the magazines the soldiers picked up so that the boys had someone to write to. In the Bob Green book he highlights some marriages that came from the girls writing to the soldiers. Grandma also noted that sometimes the men would build racks and other items to help transport the pies, cakes and other food dishes to North Platte in the car. If you saw my post earlier on the Lincoln Highway you may be able to better understand how different the roads and cars were in the early 1940’s than what we see with our interstate system today. This truly was a family and community endeavor. I found a couple of newspaper stories about the Canteen, and Grandma remembers that the American Legion Auxiliary was a key piece in organizing the days. She says that she was one of the founding members as a young girl when they needed enough people to have a group.

Here are a few links and photos that may be interesting to anyone wanting to learn more about the canteen: