Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire North Platte NE - Fly Over Country

Obama, Crooked Hillary, Cryin' Chuck Schumer, Botox Pelosi and Crazy Maxine and the rest of the Democratic Party Communists would never understand . . .

“We were overwhelmed,” said Lt. Col. Nick Jaskolski. “I don’t really have words to describe how surprised and moved we all were. I had never even heard of the town before.”

Col. Jaskolski, a veteran of the Iraq war, is commander of the 142nd Field Artillery Brigade of the Arkansas Army National Guard. For three weeks earlier this summer, the 142nd had been conducting an emergency deployment readiness exercise in Wyoming, training and sleeping outdoors, subsisting on field rations. Now it was time for the 700 soldiers to return to their base.

A charter bus company had been hired for the 18-hour drive back to Arkansas. The Army had budgeted for a stop to get snacks. The bus company determined that the soldiers would reach North Platte, in western Nebraska, around the time they would likely be hungry. The company placed a call to the visitors’ bureau: Was there anywhere in town that could handle a succession of 21 buses, and get 700 soldiers in and out for a quick snack?

North Platte said yes. North Platte has always said yes.



The community welcomed more than 700 service men and women, North Platte , Nebraska, June 18-19. PHOTO: STEPHEN BARKLEY/THE NORTH PLATTE TELEGRAPH

During World War II, North Platte was a geographically isolated town of 12,000. Soldiers, sailors and aviators on their way to fight the war rode troop trains across the nation, bound for Europe via the East Coast or the Pacific via the West Coast. The Union Pacific Railroad trains that transported the soldiers always made 10-minute stops in North Platte to take on water.

The townspeople made those 10 minutes count. Starting in December 1941, they met every train: up to 23 a day, beginning at 5 a.m. and ending after midnight. Those volunteers greeted between 3,000 and 5,000 soldiers a day. They presented them with sandwiches and gifts, played music for them, danced with them, baked birthday cakes for them. Every day of the year, every day of the war, they were there at the depot. They never missed a train, never missed a soldier. They fed six million soldiers by the end of the war. Not 1 cent of government money was asked for or spent, save for a $5 bill sent by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The soldiers never forgot the kindness. Most of them, and most of the townspeople who greeted them, are dead. And now, in 2018, those 21 busloads from the 142nd Field Artillery were on their way, expecting to stop at some fast-food joint.



PHOTO: STEPHEN BARKLEY/THE NORTH PLATTE TELEGRAPH

“We couldn’t believe what we saw when we pulled up,” Col. Jaskolski said. As each bus arrived over a two-day period, the soldiers stepped out to be greeted by lines of cheering people holding signs of thanks. They weren’t at a fast-food restaurant: They were at North Platte’s events center, which had been opened and decorated especially for them.

“People just started calling our office when they heard the soldiers were on their way,” said Lisa Burke, the director of the visitors’ bureau. “Hundreds of people, who wanted to help.”


(From the North Platte Telegraph)

The soldiers entered the events center to the aroma of steaks grilling and the sound of recorded music: current songs by Luke Bryan, Justin Timberlake, Florida Georgia Line; World War II songs by Glenn Miller, the Andrews Sisters, Jimmy Dorsey. They were served steak sandwiches, ham sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, deviled eggs, salads and fruit; local church groups baked pies, brownies and cookies.

Mayor Dwight Livingston stood at the door for two days and shook every soldier’s hand. Mr. Livingston served in the Air Force in Vietnam and came home to no words of thanks. Now, he said, as he shook the hands and welcomed the soldiers, “I don’t know whether those moments were more important for them, or for me. I knew I had to be there.”

“It was one soldier’s 21st birthday,” Lisa Burke said. “When I gave him his cake, he told me it was the first birthday cake he’d ever had in his life.” Not wanting to pry, she didn’t ask him how that could possibly be. “I was able to hold my emotions together,” she said. “Until later.”

When it became time to settle up—the Army, after all, had that money budgeted for snacks—the 142nd Field Artillery was told: Nope. You’re not spending a penny here. This is on us. This is on North Platte.

Mr. Greene’s books include “Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte"

Dang, I think I just got something in my eyes...

We need caps proclaiming "Fly Over Country".

Well what would you expect from a bunch of deplorables, irredeemables, and dregs of society?

Why I'll bet none of those hicks ever even attended Harvard or Yale or Georgetown.

L.W.

Makes me proud to an American!!!

Of course, we WILL see this on CNN.

The non-reporting of this is pure progressive scumminess. I love these people.

I am proud to say I live in flyover country and am a member of the basket of deplorables.

That’s awesome.
Great story because of great people!

Outstanding.

Awesome!

The great people of flyover country is why Hillary is not president today. They KNOW what her kind are like.

Thanks for posting. Great people in North Platte.

great post......all one hears anymore is negative …….nice to hear something decent......bob

Doesn’t surprise me one bit. The folks that live in the Sandhill region are some of the finest people in our country.

Those soldiers will remember this for their entire lives. The Real America.


mike r

Great story OO.

Thanks for posting.I sent links to our children and a few friends.

Thanks again.

This ^^^

kwg

What a great story. So proud of this effort, and as was said, these soldiers will never forget this.

I've only passed thru there a few times, but I tend to agree, some of the friendliest and most down-to-earth people in the whole country.