The segregated 95th came to Dawson Creek under command of Colonel David Neuman. I posted a few days ago about their sad reception . Their commander soon made things incomparably worse. More on Racism and the 95th Engineers When, in wartime, soldiers write letters, Army censors review them. And censors noticed a pattern in …
Category Archives: Segregated Army
Racism and the Road
The United States Army didn’t create racism in the ‘40’s. The United States had struggled with race for 170 years and, in 1942, thoroughgoing racism and vicious discrimination permeated American society and government. The Army and the Corps merely reflected that sad fact. But its racism stained the story of the Epic Alaska Highway Project …
Racism and the 95th Engineers
Racism complicated the management of the Epic Alaska Highway Project. Skin color repeatedly trumped every other consideration. In June 1942 thousands of United States Army soldiers and thousands of civilian contractors from the United States and Canada sprawled across Northern Canada and Alaska; struggled to get organized and make progress on the desperately needed land …
Climax at the Teslin River
The Climax came at the Teslin River. At mid-June 1942 the black soldiers of the 93rd raced, a long train, through the Yukon woods building a road for the white soldiers of the 340th to the Teslin River. Way behind schedule and burning with impatience the soldiers of the 340th had moved in behind them …
Getting Supplies into the Woods
Getting supplies into the woods–the next big problem. In Yukon in June 1942 heavy equipment had made it into the interior and galvanized the progress of the 93rd. But General Hoge’s battle with the folks in Seattle, at the other end of his supply line, raged through June. Hoge had, several weeks earlier, urgently …
Gouging a Road through Yukon
The soldiers of Company A, finally gouging a road out of the wilderness powered through Yukon in May. The soldiers of Company B came right behind. For more on the 93rd On May 19th the North Country threw a curve at Company B when a forest fire flared about seven and a half miles from …
Mosquitoes
The soldiers of the 93rd met mosquitoes as well as muskeg in the Yukon spring of 1942. The spring thaw got started in May, just as soldiers moved into the field. It turned the muskeg into thick brown soup. And it brought mosquitoes out of the ground in endless swarms. For more on muskeg The …
93rd Engineers Making Road
Recall that in April 1942 General Hoge had dispatched the black soldiers of the 93rd to Carcross to build a road to the Teslin River for the 340th. He had done so to get the black men out of Skagway and he didn’t propose to leave them long in Carcross either. Making road, getting the …
A Useful Corrective–Leonard’s Memory
Researcher Chris found Leonard Larkins and his family in 2016. We’ve travelled to New Orleans to visit and interview Leonard, to apply Leonard’s memory to our research. Leonard Larkins on our Research Site Leonard Larkins and the 93rd Leonard Larkins Memories Leonard talks about pup tents and stoves in cold weather—“had trouble with the stoves …
Leonard Larkins’ Memories
For the last two days I’ve posted about Leonard Larkins who served with the 93rd Engineering Regiment in Yukon in 1942. Leonard Larkins and the 93rd Meeting Leonard Larkins Leonard Larkins on our Research Site We have gathered in a large and comfortable room. On a big screen TV in front of us, Researcher Chris …