Racism complicated the management of the Epic Alaska Highway Project. Skin color repeatedly trumped every other consideration. In June 1942 thousands of United States Army soldiers and thousands of civilian contractors from the United States and Canada sprawled across Northern Canada and Alaska; struggled to get organized and make progress on the desperately needed land …
Tag Archives: segregated Army
Climax at the Teslin River
The Climax came at the Teslin River. At mid-June 1942 the black soldiers of the 93rd raced, a long train, through the Yukon woods building a road for the white soldiers of the 340th to the Teslin River. Way behind schedule and burning with impatience the soldiers of the 340th had moved in behind them …
Colonel Whipple’s Problem
Colonel Whipple, commander of the 97th in early 1942, understood very clearly that his bosses wanted him to keep his black soldiers away from Alaskans. Once he had his men off the Branch, he focused on getting them out of Valdez. Company E had walked through the snow directly off the dock, out to the …
June 1942, Yukon
June 1942 in Yukon. What was going on The black soldiers of the 93rd Engineers hit their stride. Moving rapidly east from Tagish, Company A led the three companies of First Battalion on a mad dash through the woods. On June 4 Company A moved to bivouac seven miles east of the Tagish River just …
Leonard Larkins and the 93rd
In May 1942, Private Leonard Larkins came up to Carcross with Company A of the the 93rd Engineers. Company A came first and moved out almost immediately. Private Larkins came up and moved out with them. (Read more about Leonard on our research site) Leonard Larkins grew up on Star Plantation in Southern Louisiana; lived …
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) …