Hunger

Hunger permeates Chester Russel’s memory of his first weeks on the Alcan Project. The stuff of legend, his regiment’s race against the spring thaw got them to Ft Nelson in the nick of time—just before the winter trail disappeared from under their rolling dozers and trucks. That meant, as Chester remembered, “no supply line.”

Awards, Celebrations and Giving a Damn–Chester’s Memories

In Ft. Nelson, at the end of the incredible journey, Lt. Col Twitchell, assistant commander of the regiment, wrote home, “Now we are safely encamped on top of a hill…overlooking the [Muskwa] river, in a clearing carved out of the woods… We have 80 tons of fresh meat in an icehouse…a field bakery…powdered milk and eggs…dehydrated potatoes…We are going to live the life of Riley until our supplies run out some time this summer.”

Private Russel’s memory tells us how that senior officer’s expectation worked out. No one thought to put ice in the icehouse and the spring thaw rotted the fresh meat. With no supply line, they couldn’t replace it.

Looking to live off the land, Chester wrote to his mother. “I need my bean shooter, and I want some fishing hooks and some line.”

Mom sent him a package and amazingly it got to him. Mom sent Sun Maid raisins which he and his friends devoured on the spot. More important she sent fishing gear, a “38-6 shooter… and 100 rounds of ammunition.”

Chester confessed that he never shot anything with the “shooter” except a goose, and that by accident.

They got one of the night cooks to cook the goose. The cook put it in the oven, got busy, forgot all about it.

“It was nothing but charcoal.”

Finally, in July, a couple of friends took the shooter up a mountain to the snow line and killed a couple of sheep.  “And that was the first fresh meat we’ve had since the meat spoiled.”

Hunting Sheep in BC is very different today