It was difficult to believe, but all you had to do was count back and remember that Thanksgiving was just a couple of weeks before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Almost one year ago. Goodness, how time flies, the Canteen staff told each other. So much had happened, not all of it that good. In fact, things still looked pretty bad. American troops were fighting in every corner of the globe, and now there was a big offensive in North Africa. Here at home there was a stringent wartime rationing of food, gasoline, even clothing. You had to pray that the coming year, 1943, would be a lot better. The Stage Door Canteen, the committee explained through a notice sent to all staffers and volunteer hostesses, would not offer holiday dinners on the premises because kitchen equipment was inadequate to attempt the job, and space was always a consideration. However, the board of governors wanted to assure everyone that no member of the Allied fighting forces who wanted to celebrate America’s great national holiday would be prevented from doing so.
