Obviously 1st Sergeant Honesty fascinated us. When Researcher Chris dug in and learned more about him. He fascinated us more. “Top Kick” Sergeant Honesty Ashel’s parents John and Mary Honesty lived in Zanesville, Ohio; raised 8 kids there. Ashel left to join the Army in 1918 and landed with the 813th Pioneer Infantry at Brest, …
Category Archives: Black Soldier
“Top Kick” Sergeant Honesty
“Top Kick” Ashel Honesty left his mark on the far north country. In 1942 the Army dispatched him with the 93rd Engineers to Yukon Territory and the Alaska Highway Project. From the Highway he went with the 93rd to the Aleutians. “Top Kick” Honesty was the man in Company A of the 93rd. Enlisted soldiers …
Tanana River Starting Line
On the north bank of the Tanana River, near present day Tok, Alaska the black soldiers of the 97th Engineering Regiment would finally reach the starting gate. The white soldiers of the 18th Engineering Regiment raced north through Yukon Territory toward the Alaska border. From the north bank of the Tanana the 97th would race …
White Civilians Meet Black Soldiers in Alaska
White civilians, contractors, came up behind the black soldiers of the 97th at the end of July. They set up tents at what they called the What Fir Camp, found black soldiers working all around them. The next morning Bubbles Smith ventured out with a group of his fellow white civilians. A black soldier stopped …
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Bad Guys Came to Skagway Too
The good soldiers of the 93rd Bad guys came to Skagway sprinkled in among the 1200 good soldiers of the 93rd. Bad guys came sprinkled among the good soldiers of the white regiments on the Alaska Highway Project too. But a bad black soldier got a lot more attention from the Army. In white regiments …
Segregation came to Skagway in 1942.
Segregation meant that soldiers, at least the black enlisted soldiers, in Skagway in 1942 lived separate, not just from their officers, but from everyone else as well. Six year old Carl Mulvihill spotted black soldiers quartered across the alley from his house. Excited, he waved and called. They ignored him. Only later did he learn …
William Booker’s Guest Post from 1945
William Booker served with the segregated 95th Engineering Regiment on the Alaska Highway in 1942, went on with the regiment to the European Theater. In 1945 he wrote a poem about his service and tonight he is my guest storyteller. More on Booker’s Regiment This Place is Reserved for White America is a …
KV Nelson Froze to Death
KV Nelson served with the 97th Engineering Regiment on the Alaska Highway in Alaska—until February 5, 1943. On that day he died. He and a fellow soldier named Smith, driving a truck on the icy highway back to camp from the little settlement at Station Creek, slid off the road into a ditch. The truck …
Sgt Lee on the Alaska Highway
Sikanni Chief Bridge Staff Sergeant Otis E. Lee remembered his time with the 95th Engineering Regiment on the Alaska Highway Project succinctly and pungently. A black soldier, Sgt Lee did not enjoy his time in British Columbia. In charge of first platoon he supervised transportation—trucks, tanks (armored personnel carriers, actually), tractors, road graders… His men …
Smitty Schmitt’s War—with the elements in Yukon
Smitty Schmitt, early in 1942, received orders to report for duty at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. He and his wife packed up and headed south from their home in Schenectady, NY. In camp, he reported to the regimental adjutant of the 93rd Engineers. 93rd Engineers Making Road “Do you have a car and are you married?” …
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