If you were an American soldier during World War II and were transported by rail, the journey could be long and the passenger cars cramped. If you were leaving home for the first time to be sent off to a training camp or to one of the coasts to ship out, odds are you were nervous, homesick and scared.
If you were fortunate enough to travel the Pennsylvania Railroad between Columbus, Ohio and Pittsburgh, your train stopped for water at the Dennison, Ohio Depot for about five minutes. That doesn’t sound like much time but it was plenty of time for volunteers in Dennison to make such an impression on the soldiers they would nickname the place Dreamsville, USA.
Today, the story of what went on here at the nation’s third largest World War II canteen is told at the Dennison Railroad Depot Museum. This is a significant landmark especially since the other two largest canteens – in North Platte, Nebraska and New York City’s Stage Door Canteen – are gone and mere memories.
On New Year’s Eve 1941, Dennison resident Mrs. Lucille Nussdorfer witnessed several trains full of soldiers stop for only a few minutes before moving down the track. She said the young men on board looked hungry and tired. She told others that something had to be done to raise the morale of the troops and to show support for the war effort. Before long she was mustering her own army of local politicians, organizations, housewives and anyone else willing to help.
And help they did.
Over four years, nearly 4,000 women volunteered to make sure that no soldier left Dennison, Ohio without feeling the gratitude and kindness they hoped would be extended to their own fathers, brothers and sons.
Every soldier received a cup of coffee, sandwich, fruit and dessert like a cupcake or cookie. Sometimes there were magazines, chocolate bars and packs of gum too. It was all free.
If the troops weren’t permitted to get off the train, volunteers would board the train to pass out food, sometimes getting stuck until they reached the next station several miles away. Yet no soldier left Dreamsville empty handed and volunteers contributed the best they could make, buy or find. Whether it was peanut butter or ham, these volunteers made sure their boys were well fed. Some received Christmas presents. Some received the addresses of pretty girls who would be their pen pals. At least one set of these pen pals were eventually married.
This museum has a lot of fine items, photos and quotes on the wall that tell the history of the Dennison Depot including the contributions of this canteen. However, there was just one thing that stopped me dead in my tracks and it is something that I will always remember as the most important item in their collection.
It’s a sandwich wrapper made of wax paper and printed with a holiday message from the Salvation Army. But it’s more than that. It’s a monument to how important these canteens were to the 1.3 million troops they entertained and fed. All told, 13 percent of American Armed Service personnel during that time passed through Dreamsville.
According to the plaque beneath this sandwich wrapper, a gentleman showed up at the museum during the 50th anniversary of World War II and donated this artifact. He was one of the troops who was given a free sandwich during a stop here. He kept the bag, carried it with him through the war and kept it for the next fifty years as a symbol of the generosity and care and respect he received during his brief visit here.
Imagine what that must have meant to him, what it must have meant to all those individuals who benefited from the amazing things that went on at this depot and in this small town. And why did all those troops get the royal treatment that can only be found in a small town? Because one woman saw sadness and hunger among young men who were serving a cause much larger than themselves and she decided to embrace another cause that was much bigger than herself.
Never underestimate the power of one person on a crusade. Never underestimate the strength of a woman with a passion for service. Never underestimate the significance of a simple sandwich bag to someone in need of compassion.
As an aside, kudos to this museum for labeling everything so clearly and for telling the stories that humanize history and leave you excited to know more. I recently visited the Ohio History Center and realized that our state’s historical society does an absolutely terrible job with this very thing. Every time I think about that, I remember the Dennison Depot for doing so much better.
After all, history is about the people – not the presence of an artifact. The story here isn’t just the sandwich wrapper. The story is about the man who saved it, who kept it safe and who wanted to bring it back for generations to know how important this place was to him. It’s about the woman who saw a need and who convinced others to follow her. It’s about the people who worked together to make something magical happen that is still inspirational these eighty years later.
Without knowing this story, it would just be an old piece of wax paper with a Salvation Army holiday greeting on it. With the story, it lends insight into a world that would otherwise be lost to time. What a difference!