Moldy Hay, the only bedding available proved better than nothing to the soldiers of the 341st Engineers. Actually, no one slept much, and their lives wouldn’t get easier anytime soon. They had slept on the train on their first night in Dawson Creek. The next day with the temperature below zero they constructed the camp …
Tag Archives: WWII
The Liquor Store
The liquor store, of all the buildings in Whitehorse, had the longest line out front. To former Lt. Bill Squires that made it the most esteemed building in town. April 1942 had brought the 18th Engineers to Whitehorse, but they camped on the high ground above the city; and, as soon as their heavy equipment …
Winding in and Winding Out
Winding in and winding out… Retired Sergeant Troy Hise summed up his 1942 experience in northern Canada, “The Alaska Highway winding in and winding out, fills my mind with serious doubt, as to whether the lout that planned this route, was going to hell or coming out.” Sgt. Hise, referred to a potentially deal breaking …
Midway —and Alaska
Midway —screaming fighters, torpedo bombers, dying sailors and pilots, changed the course of WWII in the Pacific. But the great battle in the central Pacific had moving parts far to the north on the boundary between the North Pacific and the Bering Sea—Alaska’s Aleutian Island Chain. Even as a Japanese fleet tried to trap the …
Do You See It?
“Do you see it?” An exasperated black soldier dropped his pants. A few residents of Skagway, checking the credibility of some white officer, had asked if black soldiers had tails. White residents of Skagway didn’t know quite what to make of the Army’s segregationist policy. They reacted to the black soldiers with curiosity—cautious curiosity. Link …
Singing and Laughing at Their Work
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 …
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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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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Dieppe
Dieppe, a port city in Northern France, offered the Allies an opportunity. Their German enemy controlled the entire continent, and to win the war the Allies would sooner or later have to make a successful amphibious attack. A raid on Dieppe would test equipment, teach valuable lessons, and make a serious dent in Germany’s continental …