"Merci Train" Car in Montgomery, 1949

Alabamians gather to see the Gratitude Train (also called Merci Train) car in front of the Capitol in Montgomery in May 1949. France sent 49 such trains to the United States—one for each state and another to be shared by Hawaii and the District of Columbia—in gratitude for boxcars of aid sent by Americans following World War II. Today the car is displayed at the U.S. Veterans Memorial Museum in Huntsville.

Courtesy of the Alabama Department of Archives and History