Women's history: Heroes on the Home Front

North Platte, Nebraska is just west of the North Platte and South Platte rivers confluence forming the Platte. North Platte was formed in 1866 with the construction of the continental railroad. In 1941 the population was 12,000.

A couple of weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the women of North Platte heard a troop train with Nebraska National Guard troops would be passing through town. Several of the women decided to bake cookies to give to “our boys” when the train stopped for 10 minutes.

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March is women's history month. Go here and here for related stories by Carson City writer Ken Beaton.
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The women met the troop train to discover there were no Nebraska troops, only Kansas troops. Rae Wilson stepped forward, “Well, I’m not going home with my cookies,” as she gave her cookies to the Kansas troops.

Rae decided if cookies were a good idea, why not bake cookies for every troop train that passed through North Platte. She organized a total of 55,000 women to bake cookies and cakes, make sandwiches and coffee for up to 32 troop trains a day around the clock. From December 1941 to April 1946, six million servicemen and women stopped at North Platte.

The Nebraska women used their own flour, butter, sugar and other ingredients which were rationed to make all the cookies, cakes, sandwiches and coffee. They did not receive any government help. One woman said, “Each week my job was to make ten angel food cakes from scratch using turkey eggs.” There were pheasant sandwiches during pheasant season, and sometimes when it was not pheasant season.

What did it feel like to be an 18 year kid who had never been out of Brooklyn, NY? He had been riding on a troop train for three days without showering, and sleeping in his seat. He was scared he may never see his parents again. Suddenly, the conductor said, “North Platte, Nebraska,” and everyone rushed out of the train into the North Platte Canteen.

Inside the North Platte Canteen, it felt like his parents’ home. There were women who looked like his Mom, favorite Aunt, sister or a cousin each with a smile on her face. There was all this homemade food and coffee in the middle of Nowhere Nebraska. He never knew North Platte existed until a couple of minutes ago. Those women lovingly made all that food for him. For five minutes he was loved and didn’t feel scared. If it was your birthday, you were given a birthday cake.

The love six million servicemen and women received at the North Platte Canteen traveled with them carrying them through “the valley of death.” More than once, a GI would ask a fellow GI during a lull in the War, “What would you give for five minute in North Platte right now?”

Those memories are still vivid. A granddaughter called her 90 year grandfather who was in a nursing home with dementia and asked him, “Grandpa, when you were in the Navy, did you ever pass through North Platte, Nebraska?” Suddenly there was a smile in the 90 year old veteran’s voice as he responded, “North Platte, Nebraska was where our troop train stopped! They gave us homemade sandwiches, cookies and coffee.

Someone even shined my shoes. Yes, I remember North Platte, Nebraska.
Love has to be a powerful emotion to make a 90 year old vet with dementia become lucid with a smile in his voice. Those servicemen and women received five minutes of love. Those five minutes lasted a lifetime.
March is women’s history month. Some 55,000 North Platte women and an over worked Pillsbury Dough Boy baked their way into the hearts and memories of six million servicemen and women. They were heroes on the home front.

— Writer Ken Beaton is a retired secondary business teacher who enjoys reading, writing, traveling, and conversational Italian. He is a 35-year Carson City resident and an active volunteer. Ken was voted Kiwanian of the Year by the Kiwanis of Sierra Nevada, the evening club.