Eighty years ago this spring, Europe was finally quiet. Planes no longer dropped bombs, tanks sat stationary, rattling machine guns fell silent. After six bloody years, World War II was at last over on the continent.
But peace alone didn’t mean a return to life as usual. Far from it. Cities were in shambles. Entire economies were in ruin. Transportation was in tatters, and infrastructure systems, in some cases, were non-existent.
In short, much of Europe was a mess.
Before Washington responded with the European Recovery Plan (remembered today as the Marshall Plan), civilian relief efforts did what they could to help. And a famous journalist got the ball rolling.
Before there was the internet, before there was even Walter Cronkite, there was Drew Pearson. Largely forgotten today, the journalist was “Mr. News” in the 1940s. His nationally syndicated “Washington Merry-Go-Round” newspaper column was a must-read for countless Americans. Millions more listened to his newscasts on NBC Radio.
On Oct. 11, 1947, he shared an idea with them. A big, boldly generous idea.
Pearson was staunchly anti-Communist. It irked him to see the flood of propaganda streaming out of Moscow, showing starving Europeans expressing their gratitude for food sent from the Soviet Union.
In his column and on his broadcast that Saturday, he announced the creation of the Friendship Train. It would travel to 11 states and collect food donated by everyday folks, which would then be sent to feed Europeans.
Americans responded with their characteristic generosity. Boxcars loaded with food were shipped to places where the train stopped, so that donations came from all of the then 48 states.
In fact, they wound up needing three different trains bearing 270 boxcars hauling some $40 million worth of donations to collect it all.
Each food package carried a tag with an American flag and this simple message in Italian or French: “All races and creeds make up the vast melting pot of America, and in a democratic and Christian spirit of goodwill toward me, we, the American people have worked together to bring this food to your doorsteps, hoping that it will tide you over until your own fields are again rich and abundant with crops. This gift is sent to you by….” followed by the donor’s name and address.
It’s no exaggeration to say food from the Friendship Train kept countless people from starving that winter. It’s also no understatement to say the Italians and French were deeply grateful.
Italy expressed its gratitude by shipping four giant statues across the Atlantic. You can see them today on each end of the Theodore Roosevelt and Arlington Bridges in Washington, D.C.
But that wasn’t good enough for Andre Picard. The French Railway worker and World War II vet felt France must express its appreciation in kind. Since the Friendship Train had rounded up the essential foodstuffs, a train should likewise deliver France’s thanks in return.
And with that, the Merci Train was born. The French gathered up 49 small wooden “40-and-8” boxcars (so named because they could hold 40 men or eight horses), the type that had seen service in both world wars. The French people were invited to respond, and boy, how they did! Six million citizens flooded organizers with dolls, china, porcelain figurines, furniture, even a Legion of Honor medal said to have been personally presented by Napoleon Bonaparte.
Some 25,000 onlookers were cheering when a ship with a giant sign on its hull proclaiming, “Merci America” steamed into New York Harbor. The boxcars, some dating back to the 1870s, were unloaded and paraded through the Big Apple. They were placed onto railroad flatcars (their wheels were too narrow for American tracks), and one was sent to each state, plus the Territory of Alaska.
Americans were touched by the gesture. So much so that most states hung on to the boxcars and some of the items they received as keepsakes. In fact, 42 of them are displayed today in museums around the country. Many collections of gifts are also shown.
Just last year, researchers tracked down New Jersey’s Merci Train car stashed inside a Kansas City warehouse. Before that, it had spent decades gathering dust in Tennessee. Plans are underway to restore and eventually showcase it back in the Garden State.
The episode signified far more than two trains. It was a special moment when one group of people gave an outpouring straight from the heart to help others thousands of miles away, and when they replied by showering their belongings back in appreciation. All done voluntarily by everyday people on their own without their governments’ involvement.
We, the people of the 21st century, can learn a lot from their example.
