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May 08, 2009- Share your USO memories this Memorial Day

Western Hills Community Press

As Memorial Day approaches, Union Terminal remembers its days as the bustling train station.

During World War II, the station received its highest passenger count in 1944 with more than 900 million men and women shipping off to war or pleasure traveling, including an additional 595 million passengers who remained on their trains as they sat steaming outside the concourse. It was a tremendous time for train travel, with millions of people rushing shoulder-to-shoulder to catch a train from Cincinnati.

To aid travelers, the executive secretary of the Cincinnati chapter of Travelers Aid arranged to use the Rookwood Room in Union Terminal as a lounge for troops in transit in early 1940. As needs increased, Cincinnati representatives from the Travelers Aid Society, Federation of Churches, the Catholic Women's Club and the Federation of Jewish Women's Organization met to organize the Troops in Transit lounge at Union Terminal, opening in March of 1941. Paired with guidance from the USO, it was the first Troops in Transit lounge in the country.

Over the years, the USO facility expanded to accommodate more visitors, including 52 cots to nap in and a nursery that averaged 200 babies a month. By 1944, all USO spaces at Union Terminal operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Terminal concessionaires provided coffee for the lounge; Cincinnati church women (Protestant, Jewish and Catholic) baked cookies; and USO staff offered discounted movie tickets, free tickets to Reds baseball games and a list of restaurants that accepted government vouchers for meals.

Private First Class Marvin Greenberg commented on his experience at Union Terminal's USO lounge in Terminal Times, a newsletter for USO volunteers at Union Terminal:

"Due to railroad schedules, it was required that I spend 12 hours in your lovely city. Through the courtesy and kind thoughtfulness of your wonderful USO at Union Terminal ... my day here was very pleasantly and comfortably spent. In all my travels as a soldier I was never treated so kindly. I wish you could all understand the feeling in a soldier's heart when he receives such perfect treatment. All I can say is: Thank you, people of Cincinnati and God bless all you wonderful women working in the USO."

The Union Terminal lounge closed on June 10, 1946, with 400 women having volunteered there during its lifespan. It served more than 3 million people during its five years of operation; checked more than 2 million pieces of luggage; and sent out more than a million pieces of mail. It was an incredible facility of caring, dedication and service.

Ruby Rogers is the director of the Cincinnati Historical Society Library Cincinnati Museum Center.

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