Chaplain and Lieutenant Finis Hugo Austin came to the 93rd at Camp Livingston and served with the regiment throughout its struggles in the Yukon wilderness. Austin, 35, had grown up in Virginia, earned a B.A. from Virginia Seminary College and an M.A. from Oberlin College in Ohio. Link to another story “Chappie” It’s hard to …
Tag Archives: Alaska Highway
Out of Dawson Creek
Out of Dawson Creek, one man, Colonel William Hoge, started the Alaska Highway Project when he left on February 12, 1942 in a car, driven by Homer Keith, his Canadian escort. Nearly a month later Lt. Miletich and his men took themselves out of Dawson Creek in a small convoy of trucks, headed for Fort …
Carcross Met the Black Soldiers
Carcross had seen trainloads of soldiers pass through and on to Whitehorse. Now, to little Millie Jones’ delight, the black soldiers of the 93rd Engineering Regiment stopped and climbed down in Carcross. Lt. Price’s platoon came first, brought up the Regimental Chaplain, Lt. Finis Hugo Austin, and set up a post office. Millie Jones and Carcross …
Racism
Racism, not simply wrong but also incredibly inefficient, visited the commander of the Alaska Highway Project, General William Hoge on a regular basis, but never as dramatically as when he put together his plan to get two of his regiments out of Skagway and onto the Highway. Link to another story about Hoge After much …
The Swamp Claimed a Dozer
Big Devil Swamp immortalized Captain Pollock, Company B commander, in June 1942. Read More about Getting to the Teslin River Racing to the Teslin River early in the month, the soldiers of the 93rd had passed Summit Lake and plunged through the swamp—left a barely passable trail. The soldiers of the 340th had worked through …
We Fought the Road and A Different Race
We Fought the Road and now A Different Race tell an important and fascinating story that too many people don’t know. In early 1942 the rampaging Empire of Japan advanced on America through the Aleutian Islands and Alaska. America couldn’t get enough men and material to Alaska to defend it without a land route from …
The Subarctic North Lay in Wait
The subarctic north lay in wait for the soldiers of the Corps of Engineers at the end of the 1940’s. A few daring men flew over it. A primitive system of primordial trails traversed it from the farming village of Dawson Creek through a string of tiny settlements to the almost city of Whitehorse and …
The Fairbanks Freight
The Fairbanks Freight would, if senior officers had anything to say about it, make scheduled runs north to Fairbanks from the Dawson Creek railhead through the winter of 1942/43. Convoys making their way over the brand new road that winter traversed a very rough draft of a Highway. Link to another story, “Awards, Celebrations and …
Michael Gates Yukon News Review of Our New Book
Pack Mule
Pack mule out front, soldiers of the 97th Engineering Regiment started their road out of Slana, Alaska in 1942. Technically the mule didn’t lead them because a Lieutenant named Razo led him—but close enough. A few days into the woods, the Lieutenant made the mule extremely unhappy. Link to another story “Blazing the Path of …