Waiting in the Wind for the Troop Train
Kennewick residents braved a chilling wind at the depot to show solidarity for departing National Guard members.
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It was only a trifling thing. But it was a fine example of deep-seated patriotism when 160 Kennewick men, women and children last Friday waited more than an hour at the N. P. depot for the special train which was bearing the Spokane and Walla Walla National Guardsmen to the mobilization camp at American Lake. The wind whipped in chilling gusts around the station building. Suppers either went uncooked or grew cold at home, but still the crowd stayed. The crowd was there just to wave their flags and sound their cheers to let the uniformed lads know that the people of Kennewick were proud of them and ready to stand back of them as long as they followed their country’s flag.
“The wind whipped in chilling gusts around the station building. Suppers either went uncooked or grew cold at home.”
Public spectacles of patriotism at train depots were a defining experience of the World War I era. These moments of collective anxiety and pride underscore the central role the railroad played in tying the civic life of the Columbia Basin to global events.
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