Ordinary Men Build A Legendary Road
Black Engineers & The ALCAN Highway
If Captain Finis Austin was arguably the most interesting man in the 93rd, Company A Top Kick Ashel J. Honesty was one of the most important. In a way that only Army veterans can truly understand, a company commander commands, but his first sergeant runs the company. ASHEL J. HONESTY WW1. Honesty CollectionFood, clothing, shelter, morale, religious…
I constantly search various sources – especially Ancestry.com – for relatives of soldiers who were in the 93rd Engineers in 1942. And a couple of months ago I found an Alfred O. Spencer, Jr. who lives in Sweetwater, Tennessee. An Alfred Spencer had served as a line officer in the 93rd. I copied a photo…
In early 1942, in the near panic that followed Pearl Harbor, FDR and the War Department ordered the Corps of Engineers to create a land route to Alaska—yesterday! At Camp Livingston, Louisiana Samuel Hargroves and the other men of the 93rd Engineers knew nothing of this; had no idea of the frantic decisions coming at…
A relative of Mortimer Squires was doing genealogical research when, frustrated with her results from Ancestry, she entered his name in Google. . . and found him on our travel blog. As Turner G. Timberlake’s fellow motor officer and very good friend, Mortimer is all over this blog. She called Mortimer’s daughter, Susan, and suggested…
On August 15, 1941, my father, Turner “Timber” Timberlake and Ted Laputka, brand new 2nd Lieutenants, found themselves assigned to Company D of the 1307th Quartermaster Unit at Camp Lee, Virginia. They became best friends. Ted was dating Audrey “Mac” McNiff, a coed at Jackson College in Boston. Mac visited Ted frequently at Camp Lee. …
The Army activated the segregated 97th Engineering Battalion on June 1, 1941 at Camp Blanding, Florida. In November they moved to Eglin Field, Florida to construct and maintain roads, bombing ranges and auxiliary landing fields. In early 1942 the urgent Alaska Highway project needed more regiments. The Corps of Engineers, with no white engineering regiments…
The Army activated the segregated 97th Engineer Battalion on June1, 1941 at Camp Blanding, Florida. In November they moved to Eglin Airfield, Florida to construct and maintain roads, bombing ranges and auxiliary landing fields. In early 1942 the urgent Alaska Highway project needed more regiments. The Corps of Engineers, with no white regiments to spare,…
The segregated 95th Engineers came last to the project. A white commander took their heavy equipment and handed it over to a less experienced white regiment; forced them to follow that regiment doing clean up and repair work on the Highway.
