The largest humanitarian gesture on the home front ever - war, disaster, or otherwise - has gone largely unnoticed, but author Scott Trostel hopes that will change. During WWII, Ohio ran several canteens for troops trains, way stations where weary or anxious troops had the chance to get a hot meal, cigarettes, or even an unexpected Christmas package from all-volunteer locals.
Scott writes:
Ohio made an unequaled volunteer effort to acknowledge and support troops passing through the state with twelve track side canteens during WW II. Ohio led the nation in terms of track side canteens during WW II. The reason becomes obvious when one realizes that troop flow to points of embarkation heading to Europe and then returning and heading for the Pacific battles. Almost every heavy main line railroad crossed the state and most of the troops rode trains across Ohio to port of embarkation or returning back to the states. Thus twelve community canteens plus five USO lounges and two cookie brigades were established to meet the trains. The list of canteens is as follows: Alliance, Athens, Bellefontaine, Bucyrus, Crestline, Dennison, Galion, Lima, Mansfield, Marion, Springfield, and Troy.
Service men and women could get sandwiches, pies, cookies, cakes, coffee, milk, magazines, newspapers, writing paper and sundry items, all free, and all donated by residents in their respective communities and immediate region.
The canteen at Dennison, Ohio
Members of Armed Forced served - 1,319,439
Women and men volunteers - 3,987
Volunteer hours worked - 6 01,520
Sandwiches served - 2,057,740
Cups of coffee, pop and milk served - 1,339,514
Candy bars, gum and lollipops served - 137,634
Cookies, doughnuts, pies and cakes served - 1,626,033
Oranges, apples and other fruit served - 1,024,682
Misc. packages given out - 77,431
Christmas Boxes distributed - 58,932
Magazines, books and newspapers given - 513,730
Value of Donated Goods - $86,100.55
Total Cash Expended - $115,583.59
Springfield’s Victory Canteen operated until November 17, 1945, having served approximately 400,000 troops in just over 37 months. Based on public timetables, the dedicated volunteers met an estimated 22,000 trains. Almost from the first day, they fed between 500 and 600 troops each day.
In Bellefontaine, the ladies of the town offered brief encounters for homesick young Americans with home-cooked food and a smile. Every day from May 3, 1942 to January 16, 1946, soldiers, sailors and Marines traveling cross-country by train were given free coffee, sandwiches, dessert, cigarettes and magazines at the canteen before reboarding the train and moving on. A total of 702,779 service personnel were served. Keep reading…
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