Drew Pearson
France, following the close of World War II, was in destitute circumstances, physically and financially. Her people were desperate. Drew Pearson, a famous newscaster and columnist, inspired Americans call to action to help the French people. In his daily newspaper column the "Merry-go-Round" of October 12, 1947, he quoted from his letter of Oct 10 to Charles Luckman, citizens Food Committee, the White House, Washington D.C. His suggestion for arranging for collection of food direct from the heart of America to be sent to France in such a way that it could be visualized and dramatized so that the real story (of friendship) could be told and shown to the millions of French people.
His idea took root and flourished, resulting in sectional trains (called Friendship Trains) being organized over the United States. The gathering of these needed items was done as the boxcar were winded their way across the country towards their meeting place at the port of New York, loaded with fruits, medicines, vitamins, sugar, etc., but mainly wheat. This aid value reach in excess of $40 million in relief supplies. The result of this project was some 700 carloads of food, fuel and clothing to the homeless and destitute of France. The delivery date Dec 14, 1947.
The idea of the Merci Boxcar
It was the American Friendship Train that inspired a rail worker and war veteran named André Picard to suggest that France reciprocate. His original idea was to present the United States with a single decorated Forty and Eight boxcar loaded with gifts of gratitude. But as press and radio spread the story, the project gained national momentum. The French government announces its official approval, and asks other organizations to get involved. The result was that a single boxcar was not enough.
Selection of Forty and Eight Box Car
Given charge of this project the National Headquarters of the French War Veterans Association decides to fill 49 cars with gifts. One car would go to each of the 48 states and the District of Columbia and the territory of Hawaii would share the 49th. During the summer of 1948 the countryside scoured to find these Forty and Eight cars.
The selection of these superannuated boxcars as merci carriers was appropriate, during World War I, millions of khaki-clad Yanks, who had been carried by steel Pullman sleepers to Atlantic ports, landed in France to find awaiting these rickety wooden cars. Built between 1872 and 1885, the 12 ton, 29 foot long railcars were used to provide transportation of troop and animals.
Cars filled with gifts
Although many in that war-ravaged country had little but sentiment to offer, more than six million families gave up something of value to help fill the cars. Most of the 52,000 carefully packaged and crated gifts were worth little in money. Yet some were priceless.
They included children’s drawing on rough-yellowed paper. Puzzles mounted on cardboard frames. Ashtray made of broken mirrors. Worn-down wooden shoes. Hand-crocheted doilies. Battered toys. The original bust of Benjamin Franklin, by the great French sculptor, Jean Antoine Houdon. A jeweled Légion d’Honneur insignia once presented to Napoleon. The bugle that signaled the Armistice signing at Complégne in 1918. Fifty rare paintings. A Louis XV carriage. The first motorcycle ever built. The Society of Parisian Couturiers contributed an exquisite set of 49 little mannequins dressed in fashions from 1706 to 1906. The President of France donated 49 delicate Sévres vases. One of the Marquis de Lafayette’s descendants presented his ancestor’s walking stick. A disabled veteran offered a wooden gavel he had carved from a tree in Belleau Wood. There were new bicycles and old bicycles and bicycles tires. A church in La Courtene surrendered its bell. The city of Lyon provided dozens of silk wedding dresses; and an anonymous donor chipped in a set of black lingerie intended "for a beautiful blonde."
According to newspaper accounts, as the Forty and Eights were being painted, one poor woman rushed past workmen to one of the cars and announced, "I have nothing else to send, I will send them my fingerprints." She then pressed her fingers into the fresh paint.
To the United States
The end of 1948 the boxcars were filled to capacity. The train, carrying over two hundred and fifty tons of gratitude was assembled at Paris and pulled to the port of Le Havre for shipment to America. Even as the Forty and Eights were being loaded aboard the Magellan, more presents poured in. Over nine thousand gifts had to be left behind on the docks.
When the Magellan reached its destination, it was greeted by a flotilla of small boats. The gaily flagged freighter, emblazoned amidships with the huge inscription "Merci America," steamed proudly into New York Harbor while waves of Air Force planes roared by in aerial salute overhead and fireboats sent columns of spray into the wintry sunlight.
Cargo is welcomed
The ship docked at Weehawken, New Jersey and the following day unloaded through the voluntary services of local stevedoring companies. Normal customs procedures were waived when President Harry Truman signed into law a special resolution permitting the train and its cargo to enter the country duty free.
Since the wheels of the boxcars were about eight inches wider than American rails, the Forty and Eights were hoisted onto flatcars for their overland journey. Trainmen then sorted them into three sections for shipment: to the South, West and New England. Meanwhile the New York car was placed aboard a barge and transported to Manhattan, where it was brought up Broadway amidst swirling ticker tape as 200,000 people roared a tumultuous "you’re welcome" to the people of France.
For the next several weeks, similar scenes were repeated across the nation. As far as was practicable, the Forty and Eights, hauled without charge by the Association of American Railroads, retracted the route of the Friendship Train.
Each state established committees to catalog and distribute its share of the train’s cargo. In most cases the gifts were initially exhibited in capitals of major cities and then sent on statewide tours. Afterward, they were distributed in a variety of ways. A few, addressed to specific individual or institutions, were delivered in accordance with the sender’s wishes. In some states the contents were auctioned off and the proceeds given to charities, elsewhere, selected items were turned over to veterans hospital, school, and churches. Articles suitable for permanent display generally went to museums and libraries.
Some of the gifts posed particular problems. For example many of the cars contained young oak and beech trees intended to serve "as living reminders of the enduring friendship between the French and the Americans." But the Department of Agriculture experts, recalling disastrous experiences with the Dutch Elm disease and Japanese Beetles, eyed the little trees with professional suspicion. Citing federal quarantine laws, they ordered the seedlings placed in state observations plots for at least two years before they could certify them for permanent planting.
In the New York car, a reproduction of the famous Joan of Arc bell, specially cast for the Gratitude Train by the city of Annecy, was found marked for Cardinal Spellman to place as he saw fit. At a solemn ceremony attended by hundreds, the 500-pound bell, engraved with the inscription "I am the ambassadress that sings of gratitude and friendship," was turned over to New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It was hung at the right side of the church, just inside the main entrance alongside the American flag that had flown above the battleship New York at Pearl Harbor. Just a few years ago the Bell was removed when the cathedral was renovated and now can not be found.
Alabama Boxcar
On hand to watch the loading of the Alabama Boxcar were James B. Hill, Grand Chef de Gare du Alabama, Louis Tumminello, Phillip Brocato, Frank Rice, A.L. Smith and Tommy Thompson, who had driven the train to and from New York. It arrived at Montgomery’s Union Station, on February 11, 1949, and was loaded onto a huge truck and was rolled up Dexter Avenue in a two mile parade of college and high school students and bands, Air Force troops, and World War I veterans. The French Consul General Lionel Vasse of New Orleans presented the train to then Governor James E. (Big Jim) Folsom who accepted the boxcar for the people of Alabama at Union Station. The boxcar after the ceremony, was taken to the Alabama Department of Archives and History where it was to be opened the following Monday.
Unfortunately, few records have been maintained about the location of most of the gifts. But Governor Folsom, at a later date, did give the boxcar to the Huntsville American Legion Post 37. After this post disbanded the Voiture 1012 of the Forty and Eight took control of the boxcar. In 1985, after research it was found that the Voiture 1012 and the Cathedral Caverns near Guntersville had signed an agreement to lease the boxcar for a 10-year period. The boxcar was to be maintained by the owner of the Caverns. The Boxcar was found to be a shell of itself and no maintenance was done, because of the sale of the Caverns. Voiture 1012 took on a crusade to bring the boxcar back for display at the Huntsville Transportation Museum. With the help of the U.S. Army 515 Ordnance Company at Redstone Arsenal, the boxcar was moved back to the Transportation Museum on October 28, 1985.
The Grand Voiture of Alabama and Voiture 1012 of Huntsville spear-headed by Ray Clifford, Don Collins and Hugh Cagle working together raised funds and provide labor to completely refurbish the boxcar back to its original condition. With the man-hours and money raised valued approximately $20,000 in volunteer services that has been provided by the 40/8 veterans group.
On May 28, 1988 the rededication of the Merci boxcar, chair by the late James Record, was held in the Huntsville Depot Transportation Museum. On hand for this ceremony was Mrs. Lovie Moore Pearson, the wife of Drew Pearson and James E. Folsom Jr., the Lieutenant Governor and son of Governor Big Jim Folsom.
Since that time the Grand Voiture has tried to work with the Transportation Museum on the up keep and permanent display, with little cooperation. In late 1999, Locale Chef de Gare Ray White, Locale Correspondant Tom Schlechty and Grand Correspondant Steve Stocks approached the City council asking that the Boxcar be taken from the Transportation Museum and turned over to an organization that cares about the boxcar’s history. Which they agreed to, with the condition we try to work with the new Military History Museum for a permanent indoor display. The Box Car has been moved to permanent locale of the Military History Museum in Huntsville, Alabama, and is on display inside that museum.