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| For Hume - Georgia's Merci car https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=19587 |
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| Author: | johnacraft [ Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:21 am ] |
| Post subject: | For Hume - Georgia's Merci car |
Forgot to post this when it appeared in the paper. JAC http://www.ajc.com/sunday/content/epape ... 40024.html Boxcar finds haven at museum Gift from France comes in out of cold Tucker McQueen - Staff Sunday, January 8, 2006 A Merci boxcar, a gift from France to Georgia in 1949, has found a new home in Kennesaw. The rail car was moved Saturday to the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History. When a $1.1 million education building at the museum opens in October, the rail car will be on public display for the first time in 57 years. The boxcars, designed in the late 1800s to hold eight horses or 40 men, carried Allied troops through France in both world wars. After World War II, France sent a train of 49 boxcars loaded with gifts to New York City as a thank you (merci in French) for American war relief efforts. The wooden box, about half the size of an American rail car, was decorated with the coats of arms of all the provinces in France. Each of the 48 states got a car, and one was shared by Washington, D.C., and the territory of Hawaii. After the Georgia car was displayed at the state Capitol, Gov. Herman Talmadge turned over trusteeship to a veterans group, La Societe des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux, better known as the Forty & Eight. The veterans group got its name from the 40 and 8 symbol on the train car exteriors. The quirky name of the honor society, started by the American Legion in 1920, was a humorous gesture by World War I veterans who remembered being transported to the front lines in the boxcars. Tom Walsh, a group member for 12 years, said the cars were rarely mucked out and smelled of horses. Through the years, the Georgia boxcar has sat outside two American Legion posts in Atlanta and, most recently, at the Forty & Eight headquarters on Avondale Avenue. The group decided to transfer care of the antique rail car to the Kennesaw museum after selling its property near Grant Park. Walsh, a Dunwoody resident, said the group plans to move to a smaller site and won't have room for the car. He said the boxcar is in good shape for its age. The group has painted it and replaced some wood, but weather is taking a toll. The museum will give it permanent cover, and that is good news to the Forty & Eight in Atlanta. "Our members are getting older," he said. "It is good to know that it will be taken care of in perpetuity." Museum Executive Director Jeff Drobney said he didn't know about the boxcar until he heard from the veterans two months ago. He said the whereabouts of the boxcar has been a mystery to many and the museum will give more folks a chance to see it. "I was struck by the historical significance," he said. "This is a wonderful opportunity for us to expose people to this part of our history and foreign relations." |
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| Author: | Hume Kading [ Wed Jan 18, 2006 5:07 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: For Hume - Georgia's Merci car |
Thanks! I'll forward it to Earl, our boxcar (http://www.rypn.org/merci) site CEO. |
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| Author: | Fitz [ Wed Jan 18, 2006 6:44 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: For Hume - Georgia's Merci car |
John, Bob, Hume, and all of you other knowledgable gentlemen: do any of you know if the New York Merci car still exists? I remember as a youngster seeing it in parades in my home town of Little Falls, which was just a little burg. I assume it had rubber tires as it was towed through the streets at the time. American Legion vets had a real loud scaled down cannon that they fired from it. Scared the heck out of us kids. 40 et 8 lettered on it. |
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| Author: | Erich Russ [ Wed Jan 18, 2006 10:26 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: For Hume - Georgia's Merci car |
Fitz wrote: John, Bob, Hume, and all of you other knowledgable gentlemen: do any of you know if the New York Merci car still exists? I remember as a youngster seeing it in parades in my home town of Little Falls, which was just a little burg. I assume it had rubber tires as it was towed through the streets at the time. American Legion vets had a real loud scaled down cannon that they fired from it. Scared the heck out of us kids. 40 et 8 lettered on it.
http://www.rypn.org/merci/newyork.htm http://www.rypn.org/merci/ Erich |
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| Author: | Fitz [ Thu Jan 19, 2006 7:21 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: For Hume - Georgia's Merci car |
Erich, thanks for those links. Yeah, that's it, and it's in Whitesboro, about 25 miles from Little Falls. Nice to know after all these years. |
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