Ordinary Men Build A Legendary Road
Black Engineers & The ALCAN Highway
Both the 93rd and the 340th Engineers invaded this small Tlingit fishing/hunting village. They brought ‘white man’s diseases’ to the unvaccinated Tlingits—with devastating results. This small village of Tlingit Indians remained quarantined due to illness. Physicians from the 58th medical battalion arrived to vaccinate those natives who were not ill and care of those you were.
Some support activities were actually part of the regimental organization. A prime example was the regimental Motor Pool. An engineering regiment’s standard equipment included twenty D8 Caterpillar bulldozers, ten D4 Caterpillar bulldozers, three half cubic-yard shovels, six LaTourneau 12-yard carry alls, six Adams leaning wheel graders, six Rooters, three Galion road graders and six additional caterpillar leaning wheel graders. They also received sawmills and pile drivers.
The 58th Medical Battalion supplied one platoon to the effort in Yukon Territory. Stationed at Whitehorse, they took care of troops, construction crews, First Nations and Canadians – whoever needed them. Medics stayed in the field following the road work, working out of aid stations housed in tents. By June, the 58th had set up more permanent dispensaries in fixed locations.
Alaska Highway, Corps of Engineers, Company A, B and HQ. Promoted to First Lt. in June 1942. Company B Commander at Chilkook Barracks, Haines, AK. Born: 7 July 1919, Cheffield, Alabama . Died: 8 March 2009, Sweetwater,TN. Buried at Sweetwater Valley Memorial Park. He graduated at University of Alabama with a degree in mechanical engineering and…
The armed services of the United States expanded as fast as possible during the late 1930’s and early 1940’s. Few among the country’s civilian and military leaders doubted that war was imminent. Among thousands and then tens of thousands of new recruits who poured into the Army were thousands of black men, and they presented…
In 1942 the United States Army Corps of Engineers built 1500 miles of pioneer road from Dawson Creek, British, Columbia to Delta Junction, Alaska. They built it through the most difficult geography and climate in North America, and they did it in just 8 months. Christine’s father served in the 93rd General Service Engineering Regiment, one…
