Today’s blog post begins the 4th of July themed blog posts on AnchoredScraps.com through Sunday, July 5th.
After my Father’s Day post, I had received a wonderful email from a dear friend and email subscriber to this blog sharing with me about the 2002 book, “Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen” by Bob Greene.
Here is what inspired me to share the book in today’s post, from her email:
“A book that I can’t say enough good things about is Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen by Bob Greene. I’d read a review of it, then got the book, and in the course of describing it to Dad he told me he’d been on one of those trains! During WWII trains crisscrossed the country carrying troops. The people of a small farming town in Nebraska decided to meet each train, regardless of the time of day or night, with produce, home-baked treats, goodwill and deep appreciation. Do not start this book as you settle into bed for the night. You won’t put it down until finished in the morning. And keep some tissues handy.”
Attribution photo upper left of cover of front of book, “Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen” by Bob Greene, from Amazon http://amzn.to/1NzajSA.
About the book – “Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen” by Bob Greene
From the book description on Amazon: “In search of “the best America there ever was,” bestselling author and award-winning journalist Bob Greene finds it in a small Nebraska town few people pass through today—a town where Greene discovers the echoes of the most touching love story imaginable: a love story between a country and its sons.
During World War II, American soldiers from every city and walk of life rolled through North Platte, Nebraska, on troop trains en route to their ultimate destinations in Europe and the Pacific. The tiny town, wanting to offer the servicemen warmth and support, transformed its modest railroad depot into the North Platte Canteen.
Every day of the year, every day of the war, the Canteen—staffed and funded entirely by local volunteers—was open from five a.m. until the last troop train of the day pulled away after midnight. Astonishingly, this remote plains community of only 12,000 people provided welcoming words, friendship, and baskets of food and treats to more than six million GIs by the time the war ended.
In this poignant and heartwarming eyewitness history, based on interviews with North Platte residents and the soldiers who once passed through, Bob Greene tells a classic, lost-in-the-mists-of-time American story of a grateful country honoring its brave and dedicated sons.”
In addition to the book there are these sites that I found:
- On the NebraskaStudies.org site there is this page on The North Platte Canteen.
- The North Platte Canteen. You can compose your own digital Canteen Postcard (there are 16 choices)
- At the Union Pacific site they reference photos from their Union Pacific Museum archives with images of the North Platte Canteen. (On Twitter @UnionPacific)
Thank you so much to my dear friend for sharing her recommendation of this book – especially amazing that her Dad had first hand experienced their kindness. The sentiment reminds us to not underestimate our acts of kindness then and now.
Anchors Aweigh,
Helen
