Once Upon a Town Read Online Free
Author: Bob Greene
the lower berth, and the guy in the upper berth got to sleep by himself. We rotated everynight. We were typical eighteen-year-oldsâ¦we were in the Army now, and that was that. I donât remember a whole lot of moaning or groaning.
âOn the train ride across the country, I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen to me. Like most of the guys, I was hoping that I didnât end up in the infantry. We had all heard that in the infantry you had the most chance of getting killed.
âThere was a mess car on the train. Pretty soggy food, the same food every meal. We just sort of accepted that it would be that way the whole way.
âAnd then we rolled into North Platte.
âI had heard of North Platte in school, in history class, because of the Overland Trail. The pioneers. But who ever thinks theyâre going to be there?
âThe train stops in North Platteâ¦and we see these women carrying baskets toward our car. Itâs the daytime, itâs hotter than blazes, and we can see that thereâs sandwiches and things in the baskets.
âWe donât understand it. The women get onto the trainâfor some reason we werenât allowed offâand theyâre offering us the sandwiches, and these little glass bottles of cold milk.
âWeâre seeing more people out on the platformâfrom what I recall, there was a wide area out there. Weâre asking them why theyâre doing this, and theyâre telling us thatthey meet every train, every day, every nightâ¦and I remember how much I appreciated it, and especially I remember that the sandwiches were so good.
âI found out later it was pheasantâthese delicious pheasant sandwiches, with mayonnaise. I can still taste it. Can you imagine that? Ladies are coming onto your train, and theyâre giving you pheasant sandwiches?
âThe fact that they were womenâ¦I mean, in the 1940s, youâre eighteen, but youâre still a kid, at least before you get to the war. The women are on the trainâand you might whistle, but thatâs all. You didnât really flirt.
âWe were there for such a short time. The rest of the way, we kept thinking that maybe there would be other places like that. We wanted it to happen again. But it never didâUtah, Nevada, it got pretty desolate, and weâd stop to take on water and coal, but no one ever met us. We never ran into anything like that before, or after.
âI ended up in France and Germany, in an infantry division, field artillery. And all the way over there in Europe, across the ocean, you would hear about North Platte. Guys would mention it, guys you hadnât met until you got to Europe. We were scraping the bottom of the barrel for food, eating field rations, and someone would say: âI wish we had some of those sandwiches like they gave us in North Platte.â
âYou have to understandâthe memory of food was such a powerful thing over there. I would see fights breakout over it. Someone would get carried away describing a wonderful meal they had before they went in the service. Sort of needling the other guys. It was like a form of mental torture. A guy would say âShut up,â and the guy would keep twisting the knife about the great meal, until the guy he was needling couldnât stand it any longer.
âI lost sixty pounds overseas. I weighed one hundred eighty going in, and I came out weighing one hundred fourteen. My mother didnât even recognize me at first. You talk about the Jenny Craig dietâthere was nothing like the World War II diet.
âI would say that a majority of the men on the battlefields knew exactly what North Platte was, and what it meant. They would talk about it like it was a dream. Out of nowhere: âHowâd you like to have some of that food from the North Platte Canteen right about now?ââ
He came home after the war, he said, took a month off to do nothing, and
âOn the train ride across the country, I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen to me. Like most of the guys, I was hoping that I didnât end up in the infantry. We had all heard that in the infantry you had the most chance of getting killed.
âThere was a mess car on the train. Pretty soggy food, the same food every meal. We just sort of accepted that it would be that way the whole way.
âAnd then we rolled into North Platte.
âI had heard of North Platte in school, in history class, because of the Overland Trail. The pioneers. But who ever thinks theyâre going to be there?
âThe train stops in North Platteâ¦and we see these women carrying baskets toward our car. Itâs the daytime, itâs hotter than blazes, and we can see that thereâs sandwiches and things in the baskets.
âWe donât understand it. The women get onto the trainâfor some reason we werenât allowed offâand theyâre offering us the sandwiches, and these little glass bottles of cold milk.
âWeâre seeing more people out on the platformâfrom what I recall, there was a wide area out there. Weâre asking them why theyâre doing this, and theyâre telling us thatthey meet every train, every day, every nightâ¦and I remember how much I appreciated it, and especially I remember that the sandwiches were so good.
âI found out later it was pheasantâthese delicious pheasant sandwiches, with mayonnaise. I can still taste it. Can you imagine that? Ladies are coming onto your train, and theyâre giving you pheasant sandwiches?
âThe fact that they were womenâ¦I mean, in the 1940s, youâre eighteen, but youâre still a kid, at least before you get to the war. The women are on the trainâand you might whistle, but thatâs all. You didnât really flirt.
âWe were there for such a short time. The rest of the way, we kept thinking that maybe there would be other places like that. We wanted it to happen again. But it never didâUtah, Nevada, it got pretty desolate, and weâd stop to take on water and coal, but no one ever met us. We never ran into anything like that before, or after.
âI ended up in France and Germany, in an infantry division, field artillery. And all the way over there in Europe, across the ocean, you would hear about North Platte. Guys would mention it, guys you hadnât met until you got to Europe. We were scraping the bottom of the barrel for food, eating field rations, and someone would say: âI wish we had some of those sandwiches like they gave us in North Platte.â
âYou have to understandâthe memory of food was such a powerful thing over there. I would see fights breakout over it. Someone would get carried away describing a wonderful meal they had before they went in the service. Sort of needling the other guys. It was like a form of mental torture. A guy would say âShut up,â and the guy would keep twisting the knife about the great meal, until the guy he was needling couldnât stand it any longer.
âI lost sixty pounds overseas. I weighed one hundred eighty going in, and I came out weighing one hundred fourteen. My mother didnât even recognize me at first. You talk about the Jenny Craig dietâthere was nothing like the World War II diet.
âI would say that a majority of the men on the battlefields knew exactly what North Platte was, and what it meant. They would talk about it like it was a dream. Out of nowhere: âHowâd you like to have some of that food from the North Platte Canteen right about now?ââ
He came home after the war, he said, took a month off to do nothing, and
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