What next? After attacking Dutch Harbor and occupying two islands, where would the Japanese War machine turn up next? The men who went north to build the Alaska Highway in 1942, left the rolling catastrophe of War with Japan behind. struggled to keep up with news of the war. But everyone understood one thing. The …
Tag Archives: WWII
Petty Officer Koga
Petty Officer Koga looked desperately for a place to get his zero on the ground, and just a few miles from Dutch Harbor he found the island of Akutan. Ironically his landing on Akutan may have turned Dutch Harbor into a crucial American victory. Aerial Combat with Japan in 1942 meant fighting Japan’s premier warplane, …
Cairns along the Highway
Cairns near Nisutlin Bay mark the final resting places for two men who came to the Highway and never left. Link to another story “Bonner and Bess and the Memorial Cairns” James Miller, who drove a tractor trailer truck up and down the Alaska Highway back when it was still dirt and gravel commented on …
Vivid Memories and Christmas on the Highway
Vivid memories of his time as a civilian surveyor on the Alaska Highway stayed with Joseph Hutlas for the rest of his life. Dances and a Christmas Eve service may have been the most vivid of all. Link to another story “Burwash Bounce” He told his stories to Donna Blazor Bernhardt and she included some …
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Entertainment
Entertainment did not come easy to young men stuck in camp in the deep woods along the Alaska Highway. Edward “Whiskers” Frankenberg and his fellows found that getting bears to eat out of their hands definitely provided entertainment. Whiskers told Donna Blasor-Bernhardt about it for her book, Pioneer Road. Link to another story “The Rude …
The Last Obstacle–The Tanana River
The last obstacle, the Tanana River. The soldiers of the 97th had to build access road to it and cross it before they could turn south and finally start building Alaska Highway. At the beginning of August 1942, a new commander launched a fired-up regiment into the Tanana valley with sixty miles to go to …
Malodorous Canvas
Malodorous Canvas supported life in bivouac on the Alaska Highway in 1942. Tents provided barracks, mess halls and offices. Men slept on folding canvas cots. Canvas “lister bags” stored treated drinking water. Canvas enclosures became mechanical repair shops. In malodorous canvas enclosures, soldiers transformed empty fuel drums into stoves, showers and bath tubs. Bivouac in …
Rippling Rhythm Boulevard
Rippling rhythm describes bouncing truck tires rolling over corduroy. And on the Alaska Highway in 1942 corduroy had nothing to do with fabric. The road builders fought one of Mother Nature’s fiercest weapons with their version of “corduroy”. From the southern end of the route in British Columbia to the northern end in Alaska, nature …
Covid Got You Stuck At Home
Covid got you stuck at home? Bored? If you liked or followed this author page, you will like our book, We Fought the Road, about defending America by Constructing the Epic Alaska Highway. Click this link to find it on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07172WHD7 or this one to find it on Barnes and Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/we-fought-the-road-christine-mcclure/1162518241?ean=9781935347774 or …
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 …