Sustaining Wings

While Mr. Andresen was stationed in England teaching servicemen how to repair bombers and fighters, his mother, along with many other dedicated volunteers, were operating a free canteen which offered food and first aid to servicemen passing through Clinton.

Much of the following information comes from Warren Andresen and local newspaper articles.  Mr. Andresen is very interested in finding out more about the Sustaining Wings.  Please email him at wandre2404@aol.com if you have any information to add.

Does anyone know of a lady named Bernice Hagge?  She was 91 years old in 1991.  There was an article in the Clinton Herald about 19 scrapbooks she kept regarding articles about WWII.  Perhaps she has some info.

This is a picture of the Sustaining Wings.  (If you click on it, you will go to a much larger photo that will take a minute or more to load.)  

This group of ladies banded together and with the help of their husbands and a couple of companies formed a "free canteen" for all servicemen and women at the Clinton Depot during the second World War.  Bernice Cleone (Marshall) Andresen, Warren's mother, was president of the club for a while.  She is the person on the right hand side.  (During this operation, Bernice fell down the steps that went under the tracks to get to the trains that went the other way.  Doctors attributed that action as being the cause of her rheumatoid arthritis.  She was in great pain for nearly 30 years as a result of this fall.) Warren's sister, Marion (Andresen) Rosst is 10th from the left in the back row.  Barbara Babcock is 13th in that row.  He doesn't know who the other women are as he was involved in the war and spent very little time in Clinton after he returned from duty. From a newspaper photo, I'm pretty sure the nurse sitting at the end of the front row is Mrs. R. S. McComb.

These wonderful, dedicated women met every train, day and night, for the duration of the war.  They gave away a tremendous amount of food absolutely free to all service men and women.  The only other free canteen in the country was at North Platte, Nebraska.

Sometime during the operation, the Northwestern Railroad loaned them a dining car on the siding and the men built the canteen in the photo with lumber donated by the Curtis Club, a group of people from the Curtis Sash and Door Factory nearby.

These people should be remembered and noted for their heroic effort and hard work during those years.  Anyone that has information or data as to what they did, meeting information, how much food was issued, etc., Please contact Warren or me.  We will transcribe any info, scan photos and do what we can to get the info online.

Here is another photo of some military men that Mr. Andresen found.

To the right is a postcard type photo that shows more servicemen enjoying their stop at the canteen.  Please let us know if you recognize any of these gentlemen.

Newspaper articles have helped us learn a bit more about this wonderfully dedicated group.

Canteen Closes