An English perspective on the air base

Dear Editor, I received the following story from Marie Upton of Trenton. I met her when she gave us a tour of the (Massacre Canyon) Indian Monument at Trenton. Although she was born and raised in England, and did not come to America until after World War II, this lady knows more history of this area than one would believe, never attending school in this country. She is now historian for Hitchcock County. I hope you all enjoy the following story by Marie as much as I have. Thank you for printing "Memories" by Marie Upton. Pat Redfern McCook

After many years of living, it becomes serendipitous to arrive at a place that instantly takes you back home, to your earlier remembrances as a child or a young adult. All life and living sometimes comes back to you in a fast, emotional rush. Home! This happened to me as I read the plaque about the McCook World War II Air base, located in the parking area of the District 41 schoolhouse on Highway 83 north of McCook. How could this be, that the strange large planes that I had heard and seen in the sky over my village in England, some had come from the McCook Air Base? The emotion of that time also flooded back to me, as that time, long ago, I had thought they were enemy German planes. I thought "were we conquered? Why are the Home Guard not not firing at them? Why do they fly in this unusual cloudless sky so large and peaceful, no hurry, no fight, just looking as if they were enjoying the day?" I thought I'd better get home fast and find out what it all meant. My younger brother, who carved Spitfire and Wellington planes from wood, said "They must certainly be Americans," My mother said. "It's a shame, the Americans have to come to help us out of a mess we got ourselves into." She was speaking of Prime Minister Chamberlain, who had negotiated the "Peace in our Time" deal with Adolph Hitler in Munich in 1938. My dad was glad they were coming -- for hadn't they come in 1914-18 "Gaff" when he was a sergeant in France? I was neutral. I'd been scared, I'd have to listen to the news. It wouldn't help to listen, because they would not be telling us what the planes were, or even mention them, unless we had surrendered or "given up," and how could we do that? But finally, the shock of seeing so many plans all at once wore off. Now there would be a huge fight ahead! A move, not a constant existence of battles lost and won, but a dreadful push to take back a whole continent from this small island my dad soon called "a floating airport of American planes, if it doesn't sink!" Since that time, I have found out that Nebraska housed thousands of German prisoners, up the road a piece at Atlanta and Indianola. These prisoners worked for farmers as far west as Palisade. Also, American soldiers were at Omaha Beach, across the channel from Cornwall, England, and where else would they be from but Nebraska. And, also don't forget the Higgins landing craft, born in Columbus, Neb. These are very sad times that come back to memory fast, but also heroic times, the day-to-day living of six years under the cloud of war. But the marvelous spirit of everyone as they came together, in joint efforts, helped us all along. The hope to restore the memory of those times in history appears very large at the air base, but it would be a learning tool, a visual living experience in pictures and surroundings, not just a monument in stone. Seeing the two planes last year at McCook Municipal Airport filled me with pride, sadness -- and I was amazed that they seemed to not struggle to get airborne. And, I remember the drone overhead at night, in such graceful formations to go on their bombing runs, for of course, we could never see the night flights. We would know their general area of takeoff, but no one ever knew the exact sight of the takeoff and landings, even on that English Isle that would fit well in the size of Nebraska. What memories. Let us hope the McCook Air Base can be restored. Marie Upton, Trenton

New tax unfair This letter is of concern to all taxpayers that will have repairs or remodeling done to their homes. It is a new tax law that will tax labor charges which goes into effect Oct. 1. This new law with sales tax on labor will put a burden on all contractors to collect and keep records. Contractors were told at a tax meeting that they would need to charge an additional 7-15 percent to cover the cost of extra bookwork. The state considers contractor labor to also include mark-up of materials, overhead and profit. The materials have always been taxed. Now with the new law the mark- up on materials will also be taxed in the labor side of billings. It seems the state is giving us two choices on how we bill customers. The first is to itemize out the material net cost and labor charges (includes mark-up of materials, overhead and profit). When you buy something from a retail store they don't show you their cost. But the contractor will have to show their net cost on the first option. The second choice is to bill a lump sum amount. When doing lump sum all materials and labor are taxed, even though some of the labor might be tax exempt. In some instances labor charges are exempt from sales tax. New construction is one exemption. Others can be explained further by the State Dept. of Revenue. 1-800-742-7474 or (NP 308-535-8250). This is a mighty complicated law that will affect the consumers and contractors in the end. It will cause ill will between contractor and consumer, especially if the consumer does not understand the cost of operating a business. Consumers will not have remodeling done. Contractors will be paying fewer income taxes because of increased costs they can't afford to pass on to the consumer, which will probably offset the revenue it was designed to bring in. If our State Senators had any guts they would have raised income taxes or sales tax across the board. I urge you to give your state senator and other area state senators your opinion on this issue. There are still some tax seminars in the area that they could attend. I'm sure it would open their eyes to the problems this is going to cause. Below is the web address to contact your state senator. www.unicam.state.ne.us/senators/senators.htm Also get opinions from contractors and accountants who work for you. They should be able to answer any questions on how this will affect work being done in the future. This is something ever citizen needs to get involved with. Brad Kinney Kinney Construction Wallace