A Morale Booster
Military officials frequently stated the North Platte Canteen’s greatest contribution to the war effort was as a morale booster. For men who were long distances from home, the generosity and concern shown by smiling women wearing aprons and plain dresses was a gentle reminder of mom or sis — and of the American ideals for which they had either enlisted or been drafted. Servicemen were quoted that the simplistic warmth of North Platte bested the efforts of other well-known servicemen centers such as the Hollywood or New York Stage Door canteens.Service personnel were grateful for the canteen on a more basic level as well. The burden of wartime traffic placed on American railroads resulted in overcrowded trains and limited dining car facilities on board. North Platte’s repast was frequently the only good meal many of them received between points of embarkation and arrival.
Spirit bolstering included special canteen treats on special occasions. On the appropriate day, there was Thanksgiving turkey, Easter eggs and May Day baskets. One canteen story tells of Stapleton, Neb., residents organizing a pheasant hunt for the canteen, with each serviceman also receiving a pheasant tail feather to wear in his cap a la Yankee Doodle Dandy.
“North Platte hasn't any big war industries,” Rae Wilson said then. “I guess you could say we've started our own—exporting morale.”
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