93rd Military Personnel
The segregated troops of the 93rd Engineer Regiment who built 240 miles of the Alcan Highway felt that their work did not receive any public recognition in comparison with that of other units on the highway.
Author: christinemcclureak@gmail.com
93rd Regiment
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…
A History of Segregated Engineers
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 these segregated…
Yukon ALCAN Builders, the 340th
The 340th Engineering General Service Regiment was activated at Vancouver Barracks, Washington on March 5th, 1942 built around a cadre of officers and enlisted men from the 18th Combat Engineering Regiment. In late April 1942, Colonel Russell Lyons landed his brand new regiment at Skagway, Alaska. They were one of four white Engineering Regiments to…
Black Soldiers on the ALCAN, the 93rd
On February 10, 1941 the segregated 93rd Engineer Battalion was activated with a small cadre of white officers at Camp Livingston in Louisiana. By May of 1942 this Battalion, now a General Service Regiment, was in Carcross, Yukon Territory under the command of Colonel Frank M. Johnson. They were the first of three black Engineering Regiments…
WWII and the Alaska Highway
In early 1942 the United States found itself at war with the Empire of Japan. Its leaders looked north and panicked. The Aleutian island chain, extending in a broad arc across the North Pacific from the remote territory of Alaska almost to Japan’s Kurile Islands, offered the Japanese an obvious path to North America. Outpost…
Our Path to the Alaska Highway
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…