Highways and Rossito kept busy

You didn't need to be at the McCook Army Base building site 10 miles north of here in October of 1942 to know that there was a whole new phase of construction beginning.

Large paving equipment was being unloaded at the McCook rail yard and being transported to the building site. Employment at the base was expected to reach its peak from the middle to the end of October of 1942.

Housing for the workers was so taxed that officials were asking some responsible local person to step forward to erect some sort of "barracks" to house the workers. Still, more workers were needed. Some of the labor force at that time was being imported from as far away as Chicago. The Oct. 13, 1942, Gazette reported, "Trucks hauling materials and supplies of various kinds have more than doubled traffic on all roads leading to the site." The muddy road conditions on October 16th caused many of the autos on their way to work at the air base to end up in the ditch.

Nebraska Safety Patrolman Carl Rossito announced in the Oct. 13, 1942, Gazette that all persons in the State of Nebraska longer than 30 days needed to have a Nebraska driver's license. Two men were arrested and charged with speeding in a restricted area north of McCook on the road to the air base. Another incident involving State Patrolman Rositto had to do with a military deserter. Pvt. John E. Hall of Lowry Field in Denver was being returned to the base to be tried for desertion and decided to make a second try for freedom as the Burlington Zephyr slowed to go through Bartley. His military police guard rode the train on into McCook, contacted Patrolman Rositto and the two of them drove towards Bartley. They picked up Hall who was hitchhiking his way to McCook on the highway.

Surprise, surprise ... there were pranksters back in 1942 also who would put a bogus marriage in the local newspaper of a friend of theirs ... all for a good laugh. The non-groom was a man named Russell Sawyer of Iowa and he was working at the local air base construction project. His pals put the notice of his marriage in the Gazette and Russell was afraid that the parents of the "young lady in question" would have become quite upset until they understood the whole thing was a prank. The Gazette apologized and regretted the use of "misinformation" which it made every effort to avoid.

The first troops had already arrived at the Alliance Air Base before they got the McCook runways poured. The troops arrived at the base by special train on Friday, October 9, 1942.

There was a unique way of raising money for World War II War Bonds in this area. A program of the McCook Production Credit association entitled "Victory Calf Day" was a way that ranchmen could sell their calves to boys and girls involved in 4-H club work and receive payment in war bonds. Ranchers participating locally were: Indianola-Longnecker; Freedom-Phillips; Stockville-Teel and Thompson; Hayes Center-Lawson; Culbertson-Schultz; Haigler-Ashton, Erdman, Evans, Harford, Havlik, McVey, Mahon, Scriver, Stute, Walter, Waters and Woods; Benkelman-Morrison; Wauneta-Kitt and Parks-McNaught, Mundt, Steel, Lutz and McGlashan.

From the Oct. 15, 1942, Gazette, another poem from Ogden Nash ... "Save your nickels, buy a stamp, Take old Adolf into camp. Save your dollars, buy a bond, Duck his cowlick in the pond. Say, Uncle Same, there's no way surer For American kids to lick the Fuehrer."

A big ad in the Oct. 16 Gazette of the Army Recruiting and Induction Service, located at the Courthouse was aimed at 18 and 19 year-old-men, urging them to volunteer for service and choose their U.S.Army Branch. The choices as they were listed were: Air Forces; Armored Force; Cavalry; Chemical Warfare Service; Coast Artillery; Corps of Engineers; Corps of Military Police; Field Artillery; Infantry; Medical Department; Ordinance Department; Quartermaster Corps and Signal Corps. Descriptions were given for each choice. For instance, the Chemical Warfare Service said, "Here's your chance to be a combat soldier, firing chemical munitions. The 4.2 inch mortar, used for smoke screens to cover the advance of troops, will be one of your principal weapons." Infantry was made to sound exciting: "Moving 40 miles an hour in big trucks, skiing in snowy mountains, dropping by parachute or flying into enemy territory in transport planes, today's infantry is streamlined. Eleven different weapons give deadly fire-power. Upon enlistment you may request assignment for tank destroyer training."

They can write those descriptions to make it sound exciting to the young, but certainly no mother was ever ready for her son to go off to war. Let's all hope that we don't have to give our young men and women those choices in a war situation ever again.