Buffalo Soldiers from the 24th Infantry Regiment came to Skagway in 1899, forty-four years before the black soldiers of the 93rd came there to build the Alaska Highway. The Klondike Gold Rush had brought hordes of gold rushers who threatened the community and each other. The Army sent Company L of the 24th Infantry to …
Tag Archives: black soldiers
Ten Mutineers
Ten young black men from the hot and humid South, Sgt. Heard and his squad had endured the spring and summer of 1942 building Alaska Highway through the wilds of Alaska. In late fall Company F and the squad had crossed into Yukon Territory to work on south through piling snow and plunging temperatures. Back …
Departing Our World, Samuel Hargroves
Departing our world for a better place on November 21, former United States Army Tech 5 Samuel Hargroves, one of the last survivors of a very special group of men, left it a lesser place. Millions of men stepped up during the catastrophe of World War II to defend their country. But black men like …
Balmy Above Zero to Thirty-six Below
From balmy above zero the temperature plunged to 36 below at Big Gerstle, Alaska on March 29. Sergeant Heard and his nine men spent that morning loading three deuce-and-a-half trucks with supplies for Fairbanks. Ten shivering black men in worn and ragged uniforms lifting and packing, working around the snow in the truck beds, …
Winter and Sergeant Heard’s Squad
Winter, 1942-43, a winter natives and old timers in Alaska and Northern Canada remembered as the worst since 1917, found Sergeant Heard and his men enduring at Northway, near the Canadian border. Temperatures reached 72 degrees below zero and the white officers of Company F abandoned their frigid quarters for days at a time, crowding …
The Squad led by Sergeant Heard
The squad, Sergeant Heard’s ten young soldiers, had, like nearly all the men in the 97th Engineering Regiment, grown to manhood in the hot and humid southern United States. Over the last two years, the Army had hauled them over a bewildering path from Florida, to Alaska, and, finally, to the Big Gerstle River. James …
Millie’s First White Men Were Black
Millie Jones, born in Whitehorse, grew up in Carcross, Yukon Territory—about as remote a place as the world had to offer. People in Carcross ordered their groceries in bulk–had staples shipped to Skagway and then up to them by the White Pass and Yukon Territory railroad. Clothes came from the Sears catalogue. Millie shared the Carcross …
Comeal Andrews Died in the Aleutians
Comeal Andrews of the 93rd obsessed his grandniece, Judith Baker. From her much loved Grandfather, she heard about this brother of his all of her life. She knew he served in World War II and lost his life. But that’s all she knew. Judith contacted researcher Chris through our website https://www.93regimentalcan.com and Chris …
Opening Ceremony, the Publicity Machine Launched
Two bulldozers met in the woods and the publicity machine launched. Colonels and generals had got bulldozers from the 97th and the 18th in the same place, therefore they had completed the Alaska Highway. End of story. On to a dramatic opening ceremony. Two Bulldozers in the Same Place Secretary of War Henry Stimson …
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Two Bulldozers in the Same Place
Getting two bulldozers in the same place, in front of a reporter’s camera, became the overriding goal for commanders on the Alaska Highway project in October 1942. The 97th Engineers working south from Alaska and the 18th Engineers working north through Yukon Territory had to cross 55 miles of permafrost to meet and complete the …