One of forty-nine boxcars from the Gratitude Train was given to the United States by the people of France in response to the seven-hundred-car Friendship Train sent to France after World War Two. Each state and the District of Columbia received one of these gift-laden boxcars. The boxcars had been used during World War One to transport troops, and each was stamped "40 Hommes - 8 Chevaux," indicating a capacity of forty men or eight horses. The coat of arms of each French province on the car are authentic replicas. The boxcar given to the people of South Dakota arrived in Huron on Feb. 14, 1949, and is maintained by the 40 et 8 Honor Society of the American Legion, whose symbol is the boxcar.