108TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. CON. RES. 161
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Whereas at the beginning of World War II residents of North
Platte, Nebraska, received information that members of
the Nebraska National Guard from the North Platte area
would be traveling through the community of North
Platte on a troop train en route to the west coast;
Whereas residents of the North Platte community met the
troop train on December 17, 1941, with food and other
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gifts for the troops when they arrived at the Union Pa-
cific train station;
Whereas although the troop train carried young men from
Kansas instead of members of the Nebraska National
Guard, the residents of North Platte presented the young
men from Kansas with the food and other items that
were donated;
Whereas Rae Wilson, of North Platte, proposed establishing
the North Platte Canteen to the North Platte community
so residents would greet every troop train that traveled
through North Platte and provide the military troops
with comforts from home on their way to serve their
country during World War II;
Whereas on December 25, 1941, the North Platte Canteen
began serving food and other items to the United States
military troops traveling across the United States to ei-
ther the east or west coast before being shipped overseas;
Whereas during World War II, the North Platte Canteen
routinely greeted and served food to between 3,000 and
5,000, and up to a maximum of 8,000, uniformed per-
sonnel on a daily basis for an approximate total of
6,000,000 personnel from every corner of the Nation;
Whereas individuals from 125 communities in Nebraska, Col-
orado, and Kansas donated food and volunteered at the
North Platte Canteen over its period of operation of ap-
proximately 5 years;
Whereas the North Platte Canteen operated strictly with vol-
unteers from local communities, organizations, churches,
schools, and other groups and received no Federal assist-
ance for its operation;
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Whereas the North Platte Canteen received $137,000 in cash
contributions from benefit dances, scrap-metal drives,
school victory clubs, donation cans in local businesses,
and relatives of servicemembers who traveled through the
Canteen to help maintain the Canteen’s operations over
its period of operation;
Whereas the North Platte Canteen during one month alone
served over 40,000 homemade cookies, 30,000 hard-
boiled eggs, nearly 7,000 cup, loaf, and birthday cakes,
and over 2,800 pounds of sandwich meat to serve to uni-
formed personnel;
Whereas a typical daily shopping list might include 175
loaves of bread, 100 pounds of meat, 15 pounds of
cheese, 2 quarts of peanut butter, 45 pounds of coffee,
40 quarts of cream, and 500 half-pint bottles of milk;
Whereas the greatest contribution of the North Platte Can-
teen to the war effort was as a morale booster and a re-
minder to servicemembers of the American values and
ideals for which they were fighting; and
Whereas the North Platte Canteen was honored and recog-
nized by the United States military with the War Depart-
ment’s Meritorious Wartime Service Award: Now, there-
fore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That the Congress—
(1) recognizes the outstanding efforts of the in-
dividuals and communities involved with the North
Platte Canteen that served the needs of 6,000,000
military personnel, who traveled through North
Platte, Nebraska, on troop trains from December
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25, 1941, to April 1, 1946, during World War II;
and
(2) requests that the President issue a procla-
mation recognizing the gallant efforts of those who
made enormous sacrifices to make the North Platte
Canteen a success during World War II.
Passed the House of Representatives September 22,
2004.
Attest:
Clerk.