Arkansas' Mercí Car

Arkansas' Mercí Car. . This boxcar and the gifts it carried are a reminder of American support of France during two world wars, and of France's gratitude for that support. Such gestures between peoples deserve a lasting place in our memories. . . People to People . In 1947, the people of the United States sent 700 boxcars of food, medicine, fuel and clothing to a France devastated by years of Nazi occupation. The Friendship Train was a grassroots effort; it received no government support. In 1949, the people of France expressed their thanks by sending a Mercí Train, a Gratitude Train, to America. Shields representing the provinces of France decorated each of the forty-nine boxcars loaded with gifts. . . The Arkansas Boxcar . The French shipped the Mercí Train to New York. There the boxcars, one for each state and one to be shared by Hawaii and the District of Columbia, were loaded onto flatcars. The flatcar carrying the Merci Car bound for Little Rock arrived in the early morning hours of February 13, 1949. People flocked to see the gifts, displayed first at the Rock Island Freight Depot and later the capitol rotunda. . . The Mercí Car Comes to Helena . The Mercí Car toured the state before arriving at the Shumaker Naval Ordnance Depot in Camden. In January 1961, the boxcar was moved to Helena, home of the then-department commander of the American Legion in Arkansas. The gifts the train carried are now in the collections of several museums and state universities. . . Inset . "Forty and Eights" . . The Mercí Train's boxcars were antiques, built between 1875 and 1882. During World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945) armies used the wooden boxcars to transport men and horses to and from the battlefront. The men called them Forty and Eights, in French Hommes 40 Chevaux (en long) 8, because each car held forty men or eight horses. Many French and American veterans remembered spending days in these boxcars, which had no seats, windows or toilets. Soldiers barely had enough space to sit down and had to lie down in rows to sleep. . . Photo captions . Top left: The people of Arkansas contributed five boxcars of food to the Friendship Train. . Middle: Thousands of people came out to see the gifts the French sent to the people of Arkansas. . Right top: The Mercí Train, like the Friendship Train, was a grassroots effort. The French people sent gifts from their homes to the people of America. Above are some of the gifts sent to Arkansas. . This historical marker is in Helena in Phillips County Arkansas