Alaska Highway, 97th Engineer Regimental Commander, WW1 and WW2 Veteran.
Born: 15 February 1889, Eureka, Humbolt, California. Died: 2 September 1958, San Francisco, CA. Buried: Golden Gate National Cemetery, California. Enlisted: 28 December 1917 and released 10 December 1945.
He graduated from the University of California at Berkley, College of Civil Engineering on 23 December 1913. He was with the University of California Cadets, Infantry, for two years.
His WW1 draft card records his employment as a Civil Engineer at the California Water Commission. The 1930 census states that he was an Army Officer in Philadelphia, PA. Between 1934-37, he and his wife were stationed in Hawaii. He was a Captain with the 3rd Engineer Regiment. In 1940 census he, at age 50, was a Major at Ft. Lewis, Washington.
Colonel Whipple was the 97th Regimental Commander when the segregated regiment landed at Valdez, Alaska on 29 April 1942. Three feet of snow covered the ground. The 97th Engineers built the northern section of the Alaska Highway. In July 1942, Colonel Whipple was transferred and Lt. Colonel Lionel E. Robinson assumed command of the regiment.
His parents were Stephen Girard Whipple (1823-1895) and Georgia Ella Harriman Whipple (1848-1925). He married Margery White Whipple (1892-1984) at Chico, Butte, California on July 11, 1917. He and Margery had two daughters, Nancy E. Whipple and Margery J. Whipple (1892-1984). He had a sister, Sophie Whipple Root (1872-1961) and a brother, Elmer Judson Whipple (1876-1964).
Serial #O-009220
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