E very year there are Americans who are not able to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with their families. Some of these individuals are members of the military and especially during times of war, having a Thanksgiving meal far away from home can be both a comforting and mournful experience. Take a look at some of the Thanksgiving military menus we have in our collections.
There are also times when family members cannot be home for Thanksgiving besides military service because they are providing other services we expect to still have access to on holidays. These can be as varied as nurses, doctors, emergency personnel, retail workers, and restaurant staff. There are those who forgo their dinners at home to prepare ones for those of us that do not wish to cook for ourselves. Perhaps this was the case with the Thanksgiving Dinner at the Hotel Southland in Roanoke, VA, 1917.