I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 954 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the individuals and 

communities who volunteered or donated items to the North Platte Canteen in North Platte, Nebraska, during World War II from December 

25, 1941, to April 1, 1946. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 9, 2023 

Mr. SMITH of Nebraska (for himself, Mr. BACON, and Mr. FLOOD) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the 

individuals and communities who volunteered or donated 

items to the North Platte Canteen in North Platte, Nebraska, during World War II from December 25, 1941, 

to April 1, 1946. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘North Platte Canteen 

5 Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Home-front volunteerism was integral to the 

2 victory of the United States during World War II. 

3 Numerous exemplars of patriotism emerged through4 out the Midwest, galvanizing the rural United States 

5 and the rest of the country supporting the war ef6 fort. 

7 (2) The North Platte Canteen in North Platte, 

8 Nebraska, was one of the largest volunteer efforts of 

9 World War II. 

10 (3) Canteen services boosted morale in the 

11 United States by providing free, wholesome enter12 tainment to troops traveling across the country. Ap13 proximately 120 community-based canteens operated 

14 in the United States during World War II. 

15 (4) The North Platte Canteen greeted and 

16 served food to approximately 6,000,000 U.S. troops 

17 traveling across the United States from December 

18 25, 1941, to April 1, 1946. 

19 (5) On December 17, 1941, the residents of 

20 North Platte, Nebraska, received information that a 

21 train of Nebraska National Guardsmen would be 

22 traveling through North Platte en route to the West 

23 Coast of the United States. Although the train car24 ried members of the Kansas National Guard, resi25 dents of the community welcomed the men from 


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1 Kansas with food and other items as an appreciation 

2 for their service. 

3 (6) On December 18, 1941, Rae Wilson, of 

4 North Platte, proposed to her community the idea of 

5 establishing the North Platte Canteen so that resi6 dents could greet U.S. troops en route to serving the 

7 United States in the European Theater or the Pa8 cific Theater. 

9 (7) 55,000 individuals, the majority of whom 

10 were women, from 125 communities in Nebraska, 

11 Colorado, and Kansas donated food and volunteered 

12 at the North Platte Canteen for approximately 5 

13 years. 

14 (8) The North Platte Canteen provided hospi15 tality to as many as 24 troop trains per day. During 

16 a 1-month period, the Canteen’s volunteers served 

17 over 40,000 homemade cookies, 30,000 hard-boiled 

18 eggs, 6,500 doughnuts, 4,000 loaves of bread, 3,000 

19 pounds of meat, 450 pounds of cheese, 60 quarts of 

20 peanut butter, 1,350 pounds of coffee, 1,000 quarts 

21 of cream, 750 dozen rolls, and 600 birthday cakes. 

22 (9) The North Platte Canteen principally oper23 ated at the Union Pacific Railroad station in North 

24 Platte, Nebraska, with volunteers from local commuVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:15 Mar 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H954.IH H954

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1 nities, organizations, churches, schools, and other 

2 groups, and without Federal assistance. 

3 (10) $137,000 in cash contributions supported 

4 the North Platte Canteen’s operations for almost 5 

5 years. The funds were raised through benefit dances, 

6 scrap-metal drives, school victory clubs, donation 

7 cans in local businesses, and from the relatives of 

8 troops who traveled through the North Platte area. 

9 (11) In December 1943, the North Platte Can10 teen was honored by the United States Army with 

11 the presentation of the Meritorious Wartime Service 

12 Award by the Secretary of War. 

13 (12) In 2004, the 108th Congress passed a res14 olution recognizing the heroic efforts of those who 

15 made enormous sacrifices to make the North Platte 

16 Canteen a success during World War II. 

17 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

18 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

19 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem20 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

21 for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a gold 

22 medal of appropriate design to the individuals and commu23 nities who volunteered or donated items to the North 

24 Platte Canteen in North Platte, Nebraska, during World 

25 War II. 


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1 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the 

2 presentation described in subsection (a), the Secretary of 

3 the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) 

4 shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, 

5 and inscriptions to be determined by the Secretary. 

6 (c) LINCOLN COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM.—Fol7 lowing the award of the gold medal under subsection (a), 

8 the gold medal shall be given to the Lincoln County His9 torical Museum in North Platte, Nebraska, where it will 

10 be available for display as appropriate and available for 

11 research. 

12 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

13 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

14 bronze of the gold medal struck under section 3, at a price 

15 sufficient to cover the costs of the medals, including labor, 

16 materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 

17 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

18 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—Medals struck pursuant to 

19 this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 

20 of title 31, United States Code. 

21 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 

22 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 

23 struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 

24 items. 


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1 SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 

2 SALE. 

3 (a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is 

4 authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 

5 Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec6 essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 

7 this Act. 

8 (b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 

9 sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 

10 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 

11 Enterprise Fund. 

Æ 


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