Last week I wrote an article on Cincinnati.com about the Pope and the Friendship Train. When the Train crossed America in 1947 picking up food for Europe’s hungry, it was not able to make it as far north as Maine. They had to come up with another way to take part and they seized the opportunity.
The Bath Iron Works in Maine was working on replacing the French fleet lost during World War II. They had just finished and were about to send the ships over to France. But why send them empty?
So, the Maine Rotary Clubs went to work and filled up the first ship with food and other supplies. This included 107 tons of food and even seeds for spring planting of crops. The name of this ship was the St. Patrick. It arrived in France during March, 1948 close to the time of St. Patrick’s Day. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Author William Lambers 