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McCook Gazette
Letter to the Editor

No fond memories

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Dear Editor,

I was stationed at McCook at the end of World War II.

I had been flying a B-24 in Europe until the end of the war there. We returned to McCook and were transferred into the B-29. We took this to mean we were scheduled to go to the Pacific theater.

We used the Norden in both planes, but the armed guard was usually the bombadier who had to sign the sight out for each mission. They carried a .45, usually in a shoulder holster. Actually most of the officers did carry the .45 but none of us could probably have hit a barn if we were inside of it.

Sorry, but I don't have particularly good feelings for McCook. This was after several years of the war and soldiers weren't too welcome anymore.

I did mention your town in my book, Clouds Are Always White On Top, but not in a very complimentary fashion.

Nolan Lewis

via e-mail

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Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. Please note that those who post comments on this website may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.

  • I don't know where this yoko came from but maybe he was trying to be friendly with the cows instead of humans. I've known people from both coasts that were stationed in McCook and they thought the people were wonderful. Still to this day people appreciate service members. If he wanted to mention the Norden then stick to that, didn't need to mention the negative part. Sounds like he just wants to plug his book.

    -- Posted by Oh what a wonderful day on Thu, Mar 26, 2009, at 12:16 PM

  • Nolan, I can tell you that you didn't rent one of my grandparents cottages, that my grandfather built just for the 'fly-boys.' To the best of my recollection, every one of those folks, who had a few months with their families, before going to war, was extremely grateful for a place to live, especially when they were only charged $15 per month rent, with all utilities paid. Harumph!

    I guess, ya can't please all the people all the time. You have a great life, anyway. Arley Steinhour, honored grandson of William and Ollie Steinhour.

    PS: Young as I was, I could have given you some really good items for your book.

    -- Posted by Navyblue on Thu, Mar 26, 2009, at 3:00 PM

  • Sounds like one these guys like I just read about that were stationed at Gitmo that converted to Islam after getting to know some the detainees. Must have just gotten duped into believing a lie from a more convincing person after we just burned Bush on a cross for the last few years.

    I cannot imagine the people in this town, my grandparents, not being supportive of the war and more importantly the flyboys. I myself, if that were going on today would do anything for those guys.

    -- Posted by Justin76 on Fri, Mar 27, 2009, at 11:27 AM

  • The internet is a strange place isn't it. I've just read Nolan Lewis's book because it described the US world war two bombing raids on Germany. Just decided to do a web search to find out a bit more about the author and found this page only written one day ago! I'm on the other side of the world in the UK by the way and I guess McCook must be in the US somewhere. I could look through the book again but I can't be bothered - it must have been in the part of the book where the hero returns home to find no one wants him back. Those with jobs are afraid he will take their job, his family still think of him as a child but he's become a man whose has killed and seen his friends killed. So I suppose he would remember McCook in a negative manner.

    I just looked at McCook in Google maps (I know, sad isn't it) and there are all round circles surrounding McCook. Looks really weird. Must be some sort of irrigation I guess.

    Bye, and have a good day in America - onward with the surfing I guess.

    -- Posted by Just surfing on Fri, Mar 27, 2009, at 12:53 PM

  • Just Surfing: I want you to know this Nolan Lewis wasn't from McCook or probably from anywhere in this part of the country. I can gaurantee you if he was a gentleman and respectful he would have been treated like royality. More than likely he was from some wealthy, snobbish upity up east coasterner. Some of those guys were quite pleasant though.

    -- Posted by Oh what a wonderful day on Fri, Mar 27, 2009, at 8:37 PM

  • Just Surfing: Don't think this guy was returning home and had those fears, he wasn't from this area. Probably suffering from PTS if he thought the people here weren't friendly. Like the one person wrote, maybe he was trying to make friends with cows because he didn't really what a real Cornhusker looked like.

    -- Posted by georgeangermeir on Sat, Mar 28, 2009, at 12:48 PM
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