Ordinary Men Build A Legendary Road
Black Engineers & The ALCAN Highway
African American, Company F, Alaska Highway. Born: 1 December 1920, Memphis, TN. Died: 13 April 1989, Detroit, Wayne, MI. Enlisted: 16 April 1941, Camp Shelby, MS. Discharged: 22 November 1945. Education: one year high school. Civilian occupation: waiter. His father was William Byrd and his mother was Maggie Houston. Serial #34046532 If you have information about…
Alaska Highway, Civil Engineer, First Battalion, S-4 Assistant with H&S Company, also assigned to Company C and D. Born: 20 March 1916, Wilson County, North Carolina. Died: 25 October 2001, Alabama. His father was William J. Burleigh, Sr. born in Canada. His mother was Lightfoot Burleigh born in Virginia. Lt. Squires when interviewed stated that…
African American, Company E, Alaska Highway. Born: 15 (12) January (October) 1919 (1918), Rayne, Acadia, LA. His WW2 draft card has his birth date “unknown”. Died: 29 March 1991. Enlisted: 12 Apr 1941 at Jacksonville Army Air Field, FL and discharged 22 November 1945. Education: grammar school. Civil occupation: grain mill. He was employed at…
Alaska Highway, Company A, D and F, Civil Engineer. Born: 24 October 1914, Delaware Died: 4 January, 2009, Mass. Enlisted 26 April 1941, Philadelphia, PA. Education: 4 years of college. Civilian occupation: civil engineer. His father Robert Franklin II (1892-1919). He was a soldier in WW1 and while in France died in an auto accident. His mother…
Alaska Highway, Company C Commander, Civil Engineer. Born: 21 August 1911, Alabama Died: 22 November 2000, Alabama. Buried at Auburn Memorial Park. He graduated from Alabama Polytechnic Institute [Auburn University] and after retirement from the Army, he taught industrial engineering at Auburn for fifteen years. He was one of the original officers in the cadre assigned to the…
Alaska Highway, Civil Engineer, First Battalion HQ, Company C. Born: 1 December 1915, New Jersey. Died: 15 August 1975, Fairfax, VA. Buried in the Arlington National Cemetery. Enlisted into Army 15 October 1940. He had two years of college prior to active duty. His wife was Donna V. Bonaparte. His father was Alfred Bonaparte and his mother was…
African American, Company F, Alaska Highway. Born: 14 March 1920, Richmond, Henrico County, Virginia Died: 1 May 2010, Baltimore, Maryland. Enlisted: 15 August 1941, Richmond, VA. Discharged: 5 December 1945. Education: four years high school. Civilian Occupation: Miles Cleaning Company [laundry/cleaners]. John stated that he joined the army to escape segregationist life in Virginia and wanted to…
Alaska Highway, 1st BN. Born: 8 December 1905, Monroe, Wisconsin. Died: 9 April 1993, Sante Fe, New Mexico. His spouse was Freda June Dexter from Dubuque, Iowa. They married on 3 September 1937. In the 1930 census he was listed as an engineer for a gas and electric company. He enlisted in the Army on…
Alaska Highway. Surgeon, Medical Corps, First Battalion. Born: 4 October 1904, Lithuania, and immigrated in 1911. Died: 19 October 1981, New York. His spouse was Helen Ocko Altman (1908-1995), a teacher. Jacob and Helen were married on 27 December 1936. Lt. Squires of the 93rd described Dr. Altman as a very short man, shorter than…
On April 12, 1942, the 93rd Engineers boarded five trains and left Camp Livingston, Louisiana in the early afternoon. They arrived at Camp Murray, Washington on April 16. From the 15th to 25th of April, three ships transported the regiment through the Alaska panhandle up the fjord to dock at Skagway Harbor in Alaska. At Skagway the…