Phoenix, Arizona

A pause, a snack, a cheerful visit, brings happiness.

Recording his voice on a record to send home, gratis.

Standing at the back and a British officer near the door. A soldier, who says he is from Buckeye, wearing a Purple Heart medal and a Veteran of Foreign War medal, wounded in the Aleutians a year ago and just out of a hospital, is awaiting a train for home. Two WACS are talking with the chairman of the day, seeking information as to directions to Williams Field and how to get there. The information booth is especially busy, where any and all information pertaining to Phoenix and the several air fields in the vicinity-Luke and Williams Fields, Thunderbird I and II, Falcon Field for the English boys and Sky Harbor Airport, is available.

The canteen is under the surveillance of the military at all times, for its purpose is for the exclusive use and service to all personnel of the armed forces, officers and enlisted men.

It wasn't long after an announcement of the desire for a Phoenix canteen that action began to take place. The Phoenix Salvage Committee volunteered to turn over all receipts from the sale of scrap metal collected in the metropolitan area, for use in connection with the proposed project. Phoenix business men came forth, eager to donate material and equipment needed to place the canteen in operation. Local labor unions at the same time expressed their desire to furnish the necessary labor without cost, to bring the project to completion

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It was through the desire of the military authorities, that the Red Cross took over the responsibility of bringing about a long-felt need, the Phoenix Servicemen's Canteen, said to be one of the finest in the United States, and at the time of its opening, the only one of its kind west of the Mississippi. The Tons of grapefruit and oranges, donated, are juiced for serving.

Upon departure of a group the dishes are sterilized, to await others.

The attractive canteen is kept spotless and cheerful-and usually busy.

As cities go, Phoenix isn't an old city; nor as cities go is it a large city. The Capital City of Arizona, to which these pages are so respectfully devoted, is a city of which its residents and all Arizonans are justly proud. It is a young and vigorous city, a tolerant and liberal city as befits a city deep in the heart of America's West. It is a modern, progressive city; yet neither its progress nor its modernity has dimished its western flavor or the congeniality of its western living.The center of a vast agricultural empire built upon the most successful irrigation development in the history of mankind, Phoenix is essentially a farm town, and has all the wholesomeness and genuine qualities of a city built close to God's good earth. Blessed with an incomparable climate, Phoenix has become one of the great winter resort cities of America, and its visitors have brought to it the cosmopolitan charm of the distant places, an intellectual and cultural flavor that is continental and national rather than provincial. To Phoenix have come many men and women from all over America and all over the world bringing within them the charm, the strength and character, and the mental and moral stamina of their respective localities and from each individual Phoenix has gained something of value and worth.

Phoenix, too, is part of Arizona, an integral part of this vast land of sunshine and beauty and scenic grandeur. Phoenix is the strategically and centrally located trade and business center of Arizona's mountains and desert, mines and forests, ranches and reservations.The decades that come will add to the stature of Phoenix as it will to Arizona. This city of fine homes and schools and churches this model and modern American community-has a future than cannot be denied as no one can deny its accomplishments of the past. Phoenix has grown naturally and normally. Its roots are embedded in firm economic, political and social ground. It needs citizens who will help build for tomorrow and who want their handiwork to be real, honest, and lasting, worthy of its heritage and its people . . . R.C.