Mid-June 1942, the action in Yukon centered squarely on the seventy miles of road from Carcross to the Teslin River and the men of the 93rd Engineers who fought to build it. Never recorded, long forgotten, the performance of the men of the 93rd—especially the men of Company A—during the first two weeks of June 1942 should be the stuff of legend. We’ll do our best to make it so.
Colonel Johnson commanded the 93rd, and his strategy addressed three issues. First, his heavy equipment would land at Carcross in a matter of days and he needed to get it checked out, prepped and distributed to his line companies, especially the ones furthest out in the wilderness. Second, he had to get the supply road built, nothing could slow those lead companies down in their headlong dash to the Teslin. Third, his mission wouldn’t end when he reached the Teslin River and he needed to plan a pivot.
From Carcross out to Jake’s Corner Johnson’s soldiers built a supply road—not part of the Highway (that changed later, but no one knew it yet). From Jakes Corner they would build Alaska Highway in two directions. They would build south along the Teslin, end at Nisutlin Bay, the starting point for the 340th. And they would build north along Marsh Lake and across the McClintock River to Whitehorse.
On June 1st two companies, A and C, had already crossed the Tagish River. Company A’s morning report has them three miles east of the river, making road. Company C’s report has them about one and a half miles east of the river, working on culverts. Company B crossed the river that day. In seven miles Company A would reach Jakes Corner.
With mountains of supplies and, finally, heavy equipment about to descend on Carcross, Johnson needed to pull the ‘stuff’ designated for the 93rd out of the morass and get it somewhere where his people could check it, sort it, and get it out to the line companies. Jake’s Corner offered the perfect location—for distributing the equipment now and for supporting it later. Johnson located his regimental motor pool and a massive supply dump at Jake’s Corner before his road even got that far.
Still pretty much out of the action, Second Battalion and H&S Company remained in camp at Carcross. Company D bivouacked just five miles east, between Lake Jacoby and Crag Lake. These men would get the equipment off the railroad at Carcross and convoy it over the road to Jakes Corner.