Once Upon A Town

Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen by Bob Greene
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

What a great and true story. This book is about a little town- North Platte, Nebraska. The good people of that town decided during WWII to create a canteen at the railroad station and serve free food to the servicemen who traveled through there on their way to or from the war. It was a beautiful act of service. They donated their own ration coupons to create baked goods, sandwiches, fruits, eggs, coffee, milk, etc. to give to those serving our country. They baked and cooked and then manned the canteen around the clock to greet every train that came through. The book tells a wonderful story, but I found it a bit long and repetitive.
I think one of the most fascinating points of the book, almost missed by the author himself is this: Before they did this wonderful service, North Platte was a town full of bars and brothels and evil. After the war, it was difficult to find a bar and impossible to find a brothel in the town. It seems that doing good has a positive effect and a blessing from God that hearts change and good replaces evil.

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