Nebraskans on the Front Lines
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Nebraska's Army Airfields:
Bring Boom Times ... and Celebrities

In addition to providing training for servicemen, the air bases provided jobs for many civilians. Civilians were employed in maintenance, repair, and secretarial work. Workers in Alliance packaged parachutes.
"I can remember the B-29s were a particular fascination to me because they were in Grand Island... During school hours, if a plane went over, the whole school was dismissed for a few minutes to go out and watch the plane go over."
     — Geraldine George Sorensen, Grand Island grade school student.
Clark Gable
After training in Kearney, Nebraska, Clark Gable was stationed in Europe. In May, 1943, he flew this mission to Antwerp, Belgium. Gable flew as photographer/observer on this mission. William R. Calhoun was the pilot and Lt. Col. William A. Hatcher was copilot.
For another photo of the mission, click here.
The construction of Army airfields and other defense installations brought the reality of war to rural and small town Nebraska.

The airfields also brought celebrities. It was statewide news in 1943 when Lieutenant Clark Gable was stationed briefly at the Kearney Army Air Field. Who could blame a young woman, such as Joyce Anderson, if her most vivid wartime memories were of three dances she shared with Lieutenant Gable at a Kearney dance. Jackie Coogan, "the Kid" from the silent movie era, trained with gliders at the Alliance air base. Orchestra leader Glenn Miller, serving in the Army Air Forces, set up the base band at Lincoln.

The roar of aircraft engines and the presence of thousands of soldiers and civilian personnel were constant reminders that the job of defeating the enemy on faraway battlefields began at home.

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