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 …
Tag Archives: Alaska Highway in WWII
Green Bag of Memories
Last night I posted about Tech 5 Samuel Hargroves. And there’s more to the story. To tell it I must step through the fourth wall again; talk about Researcher Chris and me. I hope you find the story of the green bag worth it. (For more about Samuel follow this link to our research site) …
Carcross Knew There Was a War On
People in Carcross knew, vaguely, that there was a war on. Townspeople even installed black out curtains on their windows—just in case. But the sudden influx of soldiers came as a shock. At first, they simply moved through to Whitehorse, but then, in May, they began to pour off the train and set up camp. …
Hoge had Cast the Die
So Hoge had cast the die. The 93rd would build the 70-mile supply road from Carcross to the Teslin River. And, ironically, Hoge’s racism handed the men of the 93rd an opportunity. The Army expected little of its black soldiers; typically gave them the least demanding jobs around. But Hoge had given the 93rd a …
Hoge’s Problems Didn’t end in Seattle
So with help from Elliott, General Hoge pried his equipment out of Seattle and got it headed up the Inside Passage. But his problems moved with the equipment. Arriving in Skagway, it quickly overwhelmed the tiny harbor. Besides being small, Skagway Harbor offered twenty-foot tides which made the process of unloading vessels complicated. Incoming vessels …
The Trail at Muncho Lake
The men of the 35th Engineers stood by in Ft Nelson, ready to build a road. And McCusker had bequeathed a route. Scouting that route from the air, though, Colonel Twichell and civilian Curwen could only see the relatively easy terrain to Summit Lake and sixty-five miles beyond. At a cloud-shrouded pass near Muncho Lake …
Precarious River Ice
Four separate trains hauled the 43 officers and 1230 enlisted men of the 35th Engineering Regiment to Dawson Creek. The last train arrived in late afternoon on March 16. Everyone confronted the Peace River. The First Soldiers on the Highway Colonel Hoge had flown to Fort St. John and set up temporary headquarters in a …