II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 363 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 9, 2023 

Mrs. FISCHER (for herself and Mr. BENNET) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

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 United 

17 States troops traveling across the United States 

18 from December 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 United States troops en route to 

7 serving the United States in the European Theater 

8 or the Pacific 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 volunteers at the Canteen 

17 served over 40,000 homemade cookies, 30,000 hard18 boiled eggs, 6,500 doughnuts, 4,000 loaves of bread, 

19 3,000 pounds of meat, 450 pounds of cheese, 60 

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

21 1,000 quarts of cream, 750 dozen rolls, and 600 

22 birthday cakes. 

23 (9) The North Platte Canteen principally oper24 ated at the Union Pacific Railroad station in North 

25 Platte, Nebraska, with volunteers from local commuVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:58 Feb 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S363.IS S363

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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 operations of the North Platte Canteen for al5 most 5 years. The funds were raised through benefit 

6 dances, scrap-metal drives, school victory clubs, do7 nation cans in local businesses, and from the rel8 atives of troops who traveled through the North 

9 Platte area. 

10 (11) In December 1943, the North Platte Can11 teen was honored by the United States Army with 

12 the presentation of the Meritorious Wartime Service 

13 Award by the Secretary of War. 

14 (12) In 2004, the 108th Congress passed a res15 olution recognizing the heroic efforts of those who 

16 made enormous sacrifices to make the North Platte 

17 Canteen a success during World War II. 

18 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

19 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

20 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem21 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

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

23 medal of appropriate design to the individuals and commu24 nities who volunteered or donated items to the North 


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1 Platte Canteen in North Platte, Nebraska, during World 

2 War II. 

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

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

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

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

7 and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. 

8 (c) LINCOLN COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM.—Fol9 lowing the presentation described in subsection (a), the 

10 gold medal shall be given to the Lincoln County Historical 

11 Museum in North Platte, Nebraska, where the medal shall 

12 be available for display as appropriate and made available 

13 for research. 

14 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

15 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

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

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

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

19 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

20 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—Medals struck under this 

21 Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 

22 31, United States Code. 

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

24 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 


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1 struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 

2 items. 

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

4 SALE. 

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

6 authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 

7 Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec8 essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 

9 this Act. 

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

11 sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 

12 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 

13 Enterprise Fund. 

Æ 


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