Courtesy Photo­Image

Photo by  Charolette Endorf

A new book about the North Platte Canteen is out, containing concise character profiles of more than 20 people who were touched by the famous WWII Canteen.

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The short profiles of Bless Your Hearts are in keeping with the quickness of the 10-minute whistle stops of the troop trains, and represent the wide array of people whose lives were touched by the Canteen.

Ann Perlinger was a nine-year-old girl who sent a note in a popcorn ball to a soldier, much to her mother’s dismay.

John Zgud of Cozad stopped in North Platte on his way to do battle overseas, and today still has the cloth map that he carried aboard bombing runs over Nazi territory, to help him find his way home if he were shot down.

Francis Hunt was a young man who watched the Canteen from his home across the street from the train depot.

Geared for young readers, the book is a quick study but a good overview. It is illustrated with several photos and drawings that help bring the people and the story to life.

Lance Miller, on a back-jacket review, aptly describes the book as, "A great story of compassion and patriotism…a great example of the beauty of the human spirit."

The author, Charolette Endorf, is from Hadar, a small town near Norfolk.

Endorf is a one of five high-use speakers with the Nebraska Humanities Council. She often speaks about the Orphan Trains of the turn of the century. She decided tell the story of the Canteen at the request of her audiences, she said.

Notably, in the Tuesday American Profile magazine insert there is an article on the Little Free Library movement in towns and villages across the country, with a mention of Endorf, who established one such library in Hadar.

Endorf is also the 2011 Nebraska Mother of Year and a distinguished toastmaster.

Endorf will be in North Platte Saturday to talk about her work and sign copies of her book from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at A to Z Books. That night, she will be the featured speaker at 7:30 p.m. during Open Mic Nite at A to Z.

For more about here, see her website, Unsung Neighbors, HERE.