Humble, vaguely malodorous, canvas, on the Alaska Highway in 1942, supported life in bivouac. Canvas tents provided barracks, mess halls and offices. Men slept on folding canvas cots. Canvas “lister bags” stored treated drinking water. Canvas enclosures became mechanical repair shops. In canvas enclosures, soldiers transformed empty fuel drums into stoves, showers and bath tubs.
More on the Life that Evolved in August
Hand tools—axes, picks, shovels—continued to serve, but sawmills came to supplement two-man hand saws and axes; pneumatic shovels and jack hammers came to supplement picks and shovels. To power the tools and air compressors, troop units dragged generators with them through the woods. The generators, in turn, charged batteries and lighted the bivouac at night.
Life in the woods rendered simple things, like keeping clean, complex and difficult. ‘Big John’ Erklouts of the 340th dealt with icy cold rivers and streams by washing half of his body at a time – “quickly wash the top half of yourself, put on some clothes, then wash the bottom half.” Norman Bush of the 341st gave up bathing altogether. And, if he didn’t bathe, it made no sense to change clothes, so he didn’t do that either. After four months he itched, and the soles of his boots disintegrated.
A bivouac at Little Rancheria River sported a gasoline operated washing machine to clean clothes. Collecting clean clothes, men forced themselves into the cold river.
For Another View on the Construction of the HIghway