Can anyone tell me the story behind the 49 boxcars full of gifts the French people sent over after WW2? I've never heard of this until someone brought back a brochure from the Mccormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale, Az. One of the boxcars is one display there.
Dick, you must have heard of the "40 et 8" cars, gifts from the French, though I'm not sure it wasn't after WW ONE, not two. The Little Falls, NY American Legion post had one that was horse-drawn and every parade we had they had one of those miniature cannons that fired BIG blasts and scared all of us kids. I remember the 40 was for 40 men, or 8 for 8 horses. I don't know where you can find the history, Johnnie, but supposedly the frogs gave one to each state, back when they were grateful that we saved their butts. Today they don't care and treat us with disdain.
Really Fitz. I haven't heard of it. or if I had it was so long ago and a lot has happened since I was that age and forgot it. I asked my wife about it. She has a memory like a elephant. She says she hasn't heard of it either. We were living up in NW Washington state above Seattle 20 miles south of the Canadian Boarder. Maybe we didn't get the news about it up there. [ 02. October 2002, 02:46: Message edited by: Telegrapher ]
I guess maybe it was after WW1. The brochure didn't say. Anyway, glad Fitz saw one in person! I didn't want to comment on the fact they don't exactly care for us now!
There is a 90 year old neighbor and I asked him if he had heard bout it. He said he remembers something like that and was pretty sure it was after ww 1
Folks, I have the answers to your questions on this subject matter. After WW2 ended in 1945, a food drive was begun here in the US to help feed the starving living in liberated Western Europe. The food was loaded onto boxcars and went from coast to coast... This effort was dubbed The Friendship Train The food was gratefully received by most of the people of war-torn Europe, except for those persons influenced by the reds (or course). The French did send boxcars to each state in appreciation of America's efforts. Nowadays, people forget who saved the world from Nazi tyranny, communist integration, and Japanese cruelty...they only want to burn our flag and fly airplanes into our buildings in a futile effort to deny us our freedom and happiness. America WILL ultimately crush it's enemies, one way or another...those Islamic fundamentalists made a fatal mistake on September 11th, just as the Japs did on December 7th, 1941. If you want more information on the Friendship Train, I have a magazine dedicated to it...and will gladly make copies of the article. God bless the America of old
I've seen at least one of the "friendship train" boxcars in Baton Rouge LA. Properly it was the "train de la reconnaissanse fransaise" or (as it says on the other side) "Gratitude train". The cars were "40 hommes / 8 Cheveaux" (40 men or 8 horses) boxcars and had the emblems of all the french provinces affixed to them. If I can get my scanner working in the next few days I'll post a picture of the Louisana car.
