Merci Train - Hawaii
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Photo by John Stevens
 Location: Contact: |
The Merci Train Facebook Group
The Hawaii Merci Car restoration is complete. A rededication of the car was held on 2/2/25. The picture above is of the refurbushed car.
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Although the historically minded among us will know that Hawaii was not a state in 1949, one would wonder why it has a boxcar. The residents of the Territory of Hawaii had contributed two boxcars of sugar to the Friendship Train's relief goods that went to France in 1947. According to the Evening Star of 28 November 1947, we also know that the 34 Lions Clubs of DC and Maryland District 22-C raised money and purchased 30-tons of flour for the Friendship Train. We do know that the French people wanted to make sure that expressions of their gratitude would reach those peoples in Hawaii and the Distirct of Columbia. Therefore they did designate one of the cars to be shared by those communities. Although we have not yet found any official reports that tell us how the gifts were split, Hawaii did receive the box car.
The restoration of the car is complete. There is new signage around the car explaining the history of the car to the public. Inside the car, one end of the car has a horse and the other end of the car has benches and a soldier showing how the car was used when carrying horses or personnel."