Washington's Gift to the Friendship Train
by Dorothy R. Scheele

    By the end of World War II much of Europe had been flattened.  Compounding the physical destruction were the consequences from a severe drought.  The people of the United States, having learned of the miserable conditions from Americans who had been in Europe especially to see first-hand the conditions there, decided to help their European cousins.  The result of their decision is what became known as the Friendship Train. (A more complete history of the Friendship Train is available on the home page of this site).

   The Friendship Train was America’s astonishing gift of forty tons of food to Europe.   The Train was not government sponsored; it was American people sponsored.  Every state participated in giving to the Friendship Train.  Most of the information about Washington’s involvement with the Friendship Train I acquired from two newspapers, The Seattle Daily Times and The Morning Olympian.   Both papers reportedthat the food collections and all the concomitant activities were destined for two different shipments: one food collection was destined for the 1947 Friendship Train which is the subject of this paper.  The other was intended for a future shipment of food to Europe scheduled for the end of 1947.  This  shipment would be named The Pacific Northwest Christmas Train.

Neither paper specified consistently the destiny of the two collections.   Because the Train, which had originated in Los Angeles, did not travel farther north than Sacramento, some freight cars (perhaps only one) were to join the original Friendship Train in Ogden, Utah. 

   Another potential source of information is correspondence among train personnel and committees and state and city officials.  No information was available from Washington’s state officials or city officials about the logistics or the people involved in this wonderful project.  In other states records of correspondence between Train personnel and state or city dignitaries exist. 

Also, newspapers in many other states had records of what various cities’ contributed or what person donated cash or goods.  This aspect of the effort simply was not reported in the Evergreen State.  Because there was so little differentiation between which train was going where, I chose to write about what was, as far as I could tell, intended for the Friendship Train only.  The Pacific Northwest Christmas Train will be discussed in a subsequent writing.

     Some of Washington’s contribution to the Train was included on the train which departed from Los Angeles on November 7, 1947.   The Seattle Daily Times reported that freight car(s) left Seattle for Ogden, Utah, at 11:00 p.m. on November 6. 

     Seattle’s contributions consisted almost entirely of food.  The food campaign was sponsored by the Washingtonians, Inc. which was lead by Ralph Grossman.  Labor unions, clubs and other organizations and individuals donated their time and money.  The Women’s Rotary contributed $25.00 to purchase sugar.  Friends and co-workers  of  Dr. Howard J. Knott, who was ill at the time, donated $200.00 to the fund in his name.   

      In Olympia Roland Durst headed the food quest.  Durst was chairman of the Young Men’s Business Club which was in charge of collecting and loading.  Others on the committee helping to lead the campaign were James. A. Gallagher and David Fuller.  The Olympia Brewing Company contributed 100 pounds of dried yeast.  Boy Scouts and Senior Scouts who helped load the freight cars contributed although their types of contributions were not disclosed.  Grocery stores were the collection points.  The YMBC asked that donations be in 100 pound sacks or full cases so that handling the cargo would be easier.    

     Hawaii, although not yet a state, donated two car loads of sugar.  Gov. Angram Steinback was in California representing Hawaii’s participation.

   The Friendship Train arrived in New York 11 days later.  A stupendous celebration awaited it.  Fireboats shot plumes of water into the air; tug boats blared their whistles; the Army Air Force executed a marvelous fly-over. 

   The freight cars were unloaded in Weehawken, New Jersey, where ships waited to transport the cargo to Europe.

   The Evergreen State had been a part of one of the most humanitarian movements in history.

However, there was also a food drive for what was called the Pacific Northwest Christmas Train.  This train, which included three other states, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and the Alaskan Territory, was not scheduled to leave the Northwest until late December or early January.  The cargo of this train was loaded onto ships(s) which would depart from Portland, Oregon.

The author welcomes any additional information which would add to this state's history.

The Friendship Train was the genesis for the French Merci Train. Website www.mercitrain.org has information about that train. Copies of Mr. Bennett's Book The Merci Train, A Big Thank You From the French Merci Train is available at ebennett89@yahoo.com. The price is $25.00 per copy, including postage.

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