Work, damned hard work, and the occasional young officer who got in the way. That’s the Alcan project that dominated Chester Russell’s memory. “We was running cats. We was doing our thing, and the other fellows doing the culverts and the bridges, and… We never looked back. We just kept going.” Young Lieutenants Another Officer …
Tag Archives: Watson Lake
Awards, Celebrations and Giving a Damn
Awards or commendations—interviewer Brown asked Chester whether he and the other soldiers received any. “You gotta be kidding. That war with them Japs over there, and with the Germans coming up.” Nobody paid any attention to roadbuilders in Canada. “We were the peons playing in the mud.” Bit and Brace Brain Surgery–More from Chester’s Memory …
Climax at Contact Creek
Publicity–the impact of Contact Creek In late August and early September 1942, the soldiers of the 340th and those of the 35th plunged toward each other, and toward the first great climax of the Alaska Highway Project, through the rugged mountains of the Mackenzie-Yukon Drainage area. Their imminent meeting would open the road all the …