Rick Just
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Author
  • Speaker
  • Contact
  • Subscriptions
  • Heroes & Villains

Merci

7/12/2019

Comments

 
​Merci. It means “thank you” in French. The people of France gave a very big thank you to the people of the United States in 1949. France sent a Merci Train to the US as a showing of gratitude for the $40 million in food and supplies sent to France and Italy following World War II. Those supplies traveled in Europe on a “Friendship Train.”Each state and the District of Columbia got a box car from the Merci Train. Each car was loaded with artwork, correspondence, stamps, pamphlets, photographs, flags, and other memorabilia.
 
The box cars, formerly used for military transport, were called “Forty and Eight” cars because they could hold 40 men or eight horses. Idaho’s Merci Car is in storage at the old Idaho penitentiary, and not currently on display.
 
One prominent item is on display (photo below). A replica of Winged Victory (Nike of Samothrace) is in Statuary Hall in the Idaho Statehouse. The original sculpture, housed in the Louvre, is one of the most famous in the world. It was found in 1863—the year of the creation of Idaho as a territory—on the Greek island of Samothrace.
 
The original statue is marble. The replica is plaster cast over an armature. It arrived in the state on February 19, 1949 and has been displayed in a place of honor ever since. It was displayed in the second-floor rotunda of the Idaho Capitol Building for decades. It was moved to the fourth floor after renovation of the building in 2009. Other items from the Merci Car were distributed to each Idaho county.
 
Do you know what items from the Merci Train are in your county, and where they might be displayed?
Picture
Speaking of Idaho history posts are copyright © 2020 by Rick Just. Sharing is encouraged. If you don’t find a button that lets you do that, find the post on Speaking of Idaho. If you’re missing my daily posts, select the RSS button, or select See it First under the Facebook Following tab.
Comments
    Picture
    The first book in the Speaking of Idaho series is out. Ask for it at your local Idaho bookstore, find it on Amazon, or, if you want a signed copy, click the button.
    Picture
    The second book in the Speaking of Idaho series is out. Ask for it at your local Idaho bookstore, find it on Amazon, or, if you want a signed copy, click the button.
    Picture
    Rick's book about Fearless Farris is available on Amazon! Click the picture above to be taken to Amazon. If you'd like an autographed copy, click the button below.

    Author, Speaker

    Rick Just has been writing about Idaho history since 1989 when he wrote and recorded scripts for the Idaho Centennial Commission’s daily radio program, Idaho Snapshots. One of his Idaho books explores the history of Idaho's state parks: Images of America, Idaho State Parks. Rick also writes a regular column for Boise Weekly.

    Rick does public presentations on Idaho's state park history and the history of the Morrisite war for the Idaho Humanities Council's Speakers Bureau.idahohumanities.org/programs/inquiring-idaho/
    ​


    Check out Rick's history of Idaho State Parks.

    The audio link below is to Rick's Story Story Night set called "Someplace Not Firth"

    RSS Feed

Speaking of Idaho history posts are copyright © 2025 by Rick Just. Sharing is encouraged. If you’re missing my daily posts, select the RSS button, or select See it First under the Facebook Following tab.

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you follow a link (generally to a book) from my page to an Amazon page, I get a tiny percentage of any purchase you may make.