Hello to you listening in North Platte, Nebraska!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds (and a bit mire) for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Maybe like me you could use a bit of good news right about now. What if you could find the “best America there ever was?” Best-selling author and award-winning journalist Bob Greene found it in a small town, North Platte, Nebraska. As the story goes: During World War II, American soldiers from every city and walk of life rolled through North Platte, Nebraska, on troop trains en route to their ultimate destinations in Europe and the Pacific. What happened next?

Prompted by one woman’s idea this tiny town of 12,000 people transformed its modest railroad depot into the North Platte Canteen. Every day of the year, every day of the war years the Canteen - staffed and funded entirely by local volunteers - was open from five A.M. until the last troop train pulled away a little after midnight. In a time of coupons, shortages, and doing without that comes with war this community provided welcoming words, support, baskets of produce, fresh-baked goods, homemade sandwiches, magazines, books, bottles of milk, cauldrons of coffee, and treats to more than six millions GIs by the time the war ended four years later.

Think about it. At a time of national adversity, crisis and deprivation because everything was going to the troops and the war effort, ordinary people pulled together to honor their country’s brave sons by giving from the heart and their kitchens, their fields and dairies. Interviews with some of the volunteers and servicemen tell a love story of small-town generosity because it was something that they could do.

Question: Yes, these times are perilous; but so was World War II. We might feel like we’re fighting a war on our own soil for the first time since the Civil War. But we are not lost when we choose to summon the great expanse of hope that is the human heart. If 12,000 ordinary persons could care for six million GIs, what is in our power to do? Where is the next “best America there ever was?”

Click to access book: Once Upon a Town - The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen by Bob Greene

You're always welcome: "Come for the stories - Stay for the magic!" Speaking of magic, I hope you’ll subscribe, share a 5-star rating and nice review on your social media or podcast channel of choice, bring your friends and rellies, and join us! You will have wonderful company as we continue to walk our lives together. Be sure to stop by my Quarter Moon Story Arts website, check out the Communication Services, arrange a no-obligation Discovery Call, and Opt In to stay current with me as "Wyzga on Words" on Substack.

Stories From Women Who Walk Production Team

Podcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story Arts

Music: Mer’s Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron Music

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