Brutal Challenge reveals truths about human nature—about us. As the history of WWII gradually recedes from our collective memory, we risk forgetting those truths. We forget them at our peril and that may be the most important reason for keeping that history alive. When the world exploded, things got mean. People revealed an ability to …
Category Archives: Alaska Highway
Heat Meant Fire
Heat, on the Alcan Project, came from fire. And God knows, the soldiers needed heat. But the soldiers lived in canvas tents. An escaped live coal smolders on canvas and then ignites it with obvious consequences. Link to another story “Bivouac in the Woods” From a company bivouac, soldiers ‘commuted’ daily to their work …
Morley Bay Yukon
Morley Bay, today a beautiful body of water with quiet woods along its shore, teemed and bustled with soldiers and equipment in 1942. Ship dock, supply dump, motor pool—a sizeable military installation occupied the spot where two small, isolated houses now sit. Link to a story from Morley Bay “Dear …
River after River
River after river crisscrossed the path of the Alaska Highway. Smaller streams got quick timber bridges, larger ones brought out the barges and Ferries. Link to another story “Barge “Bridges” The black soldiers of the 93rd Engineers, tasked with building an access road for the white soldiers of the 340th from Carcross Yukon to the …
Winding in and Winding Out
Winding in and winding out… Retired Sergeant Troy Hise summed up his 1942 experience in northern Canada, “The Alaska Highway winding in and winding out, fills my mind with serious doubt, as to whether the lout that planned this route, was going to hell or coming out.” Sgt. Hise, referred to a potentially deal breaking …
Like Dirt in Front of a Dozer Blade
Like dirt in front of a dozer blade, the problems that plagued the Alaska Highway Project piled high in May and the hell-bent advance into the wilderness threatened to dissolve in chaos and confusion. Three entry points, Skagway, Valdez and Dawson Creek, swarmed with confused troops trying desperately to get organized. Getting equipment to the …
The Juggernaut
The Juggernaut, the Corps of Engineers proposed drive into Northern Canada would not “drive” easily. But the ‘very highest authority’ had ordered the Corps to build a highway to Alaska and do it immediately, and the Corps leaped into action. The Corps existed to build things fast under difficult circumstances. They could drive the juggernaut. …
The Land of the Midnight Sun
The Land of the Midnight Sun could offer a traveler the spectacle of a golden lavender sunset in the west and a rising moon, dusted with the same hue in the east. Oversized and spectacular, the land dwarfed every living thing in it—mosquitoes, moose, grizzlies and, very occasionally, men. Winters surrounded everything in this country …
Turner Timberlake and Our Obsession with the Alcan
Turner “Tim” Timberlake passed away in 2001, devastating his daughter (and my wife) Chris. We missed having him in our lives. Chris came to realize how little she really knew about his life. Daughters know fathers as larger than life figures. The man behind the father? Not so much. Link to another story about Tim …
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Shirley Balinski on Homesteading Alaska
Shirley Balinski commented on one of my posts. “Traveled that road several times, by car, as a kid (mid 1950’s to early 1960’s). We lived homesteading in Alaska. It was an experience! The road was very rough, wild territory, extremely muddy or dusty, swamps to high mountains, mostly gravel or dirt. The “berms” of dirt …