Hi, I am Dennis’ wife Chris McClure and I am sorry to bring bad news. Dennis died September 28, 2021 of a massive heart attack. To see his obituary please click the link provided. https://www.thewoodmortuary.com/obituaries/Dennis-Mcclure/
Category Archives: Alaska Highway
Defending America, Building the Alaska Highway
Defending America. Our two-book series We Fought the Road and A Different Race tell a story you’ll want to read. We Fought the Road on Amazon A Different Race on Amazon In 1942 black and white soldiers built a land route 1600 miles long through the most difficult country on earth in just eight months. The …
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Fighting Water, Building Alaska Highway in Alaska
Fighting water came next for the soldiers of the 97th coming out of Valdez to the Alaska Highway. Soldiers driving dozers and trucks negotiated the narrow dirt road and the breathtaking cliffs of Keystone Canyon. Beyond the Canyon they passed through the narrow walls of packed snow that choked Thompson Pass. Link to another story …
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There to Meet the Corps
There to meet the Corps of Engineers in 1942, Harold and Anna Engelson had made Ft. Nelson their home in 1939. I promise you will love this video. Click to see the video the story and more photos. Click Link to video The link will take you to an utterly fantastic video their son Monte …
Down the Yukon but Up the Teslin
Down the Yukon River but up the Teslin, steamboats like the SS Nisutlin carried the soldiers and equipment of the 340th Engineers to their starting point at Teslin and Morley Bay deep in the interior of Yukon Territory. General Hoge had ordered the 340th to build highway from there through into the mountains of British …
Swimming in the Subarctic North
Swimming? Not a topic you would expect in a story from the Alaska Highway Project, but here it comes… Near the end of June, with the critical task of getting the 340th to the Teslin River behind them, Headquarters moved up to Squanga Lake. One day, when the air temperature climbed to 80 degrees the …
The 18th, Pride of the Alcan Project
The 18th Combat Engineers, a crack outfit, came early to the Alaska Highway project. They came up the Inland Passage to Skagway, boarded the WP&YR and invaded Whitehorse in April. Their heavy equipment came up from Skagway in May. The only bright spot in General Hoge’s firmament, the 18th immediately headed north out of Whitehorse, …
Moldy Hay
Moldy Hay, the only bedding available proved better than nothing to the soldiers of the 341st Engineers. Actually, no one slept much, and their lives wouldn’t get easier anytime soon. They had slept on the train on their first night in Dawson Creek. The next day with the temperature below zero they constructed the camp …
That’s My Grandpa
“That’s my grandpa” the comment on my post read. May Kaela Lavelais included a screenshot from google of the page in our book We Fought the Road that talked about Willie Lavelais. Link to another story “Men of the 93rd” When Captain sent Willie with Lt. Dudrow’s platoon on a quick side job, he …
Gateways to the Alcan
Gateways… The Alaska Highway that General Hoge and the Corps proposed to build in 1942 would traverse some of the most remote mountains and forests on earth. And if men traverse the North Country on primordial paths, they access those paths through equally primordial gateways. Of the seven regiments that Hoge launched into the North …