Singing at their work? Twichell never expected to see and hear that. But he did. Southern Sector commander O’Connor, convinced by his black soldiers’ performance at Sikanni Chief that they could build bridges, gave them more bridges to build, made bridge building something of a specialty for the 95th. Link to the last story in …
Tag Archives: black soldiers
Five Days to a Bridge
Five days, that’s what the Southern Sector commander gave the 95th to bridge the Sikanni Chief. The soldiers got to work. Link to last episode in the series “Morale Leads the 95th to Sikanni Chief” In the surrounding woods, Sgt. Harvey and Pvt. Hickens selected trees—monsters for trestles that would stand up out of the …
Morale Leads the 95th to Sikanni Chief
Morale among the black soldiers of the misused and abused 95th Engineers confronted their new commander, Lt. Colonel Heath Twichell, with his biggest problem and he proposed to fix it. Link to the last story in this series “Pink Mountain and the 95th” The Army, Twichell knew, considered his new troops substandard; didn’t trust them …
Pink Mountain and the 95th
Pink Mountain took five soldiers from the 95th the very day Lt. Colonel Twichell replaced their disgraced commander, Colonel Newman. Twichell inherited major problems—disorganization, dismal morale, lack of a real mission. But before he could turn to those issues he had to deal with the immediate crisis. Link to Another story on the 95th “Rushed …
Rushed North—for What?
Rushed north by the Army to help in the urgent effort to build over a thousand miles of Alaska Highway through subarctic wilderness, the soldiers of the 95th found themselves with little to do. They occasionally found themselves serving as stevedores and delivery drivers for the white rookies of the 341st. More often they …
O’Connor Caught a Break but Didn’t Know It
O’Connor, Colonel James A. “Patsy” O’Connor, southern sector commander on the Alaska Highway Project, finally caught a break in May. One of his regiments, brand new, sorely lacking in experience, fresh off the shocking disaster at Charlie lake had a lot of learning to do. But at the end of the month, one more regiment …
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Vanilla Extract
Vanilla Extract turned out to have unanticipated uses… Lt. Dewitt Howell told Donna Blasor Bernhardt about it as he recounted his memories from the construction of the Alaska Highway. More on drinking vanilla extract Howell commanded a company in the 97th Engineering Regiment and his company specialized in building bridges, culverts, and ferries. Howell and …
Tiny Carcross
Tiny Carcross, Yukon. The soldiers of the 18th Engineers barely noticed as they travelled past and on to Whitehorse in April. In May the trains carrying the black soldiers of the 93rd Engineers, to the surprise and delight of her citizens, stopped in Carcross and discharged their passengers. Link to another story “Carcross Met the …
Larkins—Meeting Leonard, a Veteran of the Alaska Highway Project
Larkins, the name stood out in the roll of soldiers in the 93rd. Leonard Larkins’ son found us through our research site, contacted us and in short order we headed off to New Orleans to meet his dad. Leonard had served with the 93rd Engineering Regiment on the Alaska Highway in 1942. Our Research Site …
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Tech 5 Hargoves
Tech 5 Hargoves had no idea, but events in Washington would change his life profoundly. In early 1942, in the near panic that followed Pearl Harbor, FDR and the War Department ordered the Corps of Engineers to create a land route to Alaska—yesterday! At Camp Livingston, Louisiana Tech 5 Hargroves and the other men of …