Alaska Highway, Company E. In an interview with author Donna Blasor Bernhardt, Chappy tells this story:
They arrived at Skagway, rode the WP&YT railroad over White Pass and detrained at Carcross, YT. His regiment marched and drove operational equipment about sixty-six miles to Teslin River, better known as Johnsons Crossing. They boarded a steam paddleboat and traveled to Morley Bay, their base camp.
Once at Morley Bay, he remembered that they slept on the ground with two blankets and a mattress cover, no tents. The mattress cover was used to house their personal items and small equipment. Every morning they folded the mattress cover into a bedroll and went to work on the road. Their gear was hauled by a ‘sag’ wagon to a location further up the road.
When the days or shift work was completed each engineer found their bedroll, unrolled it and immediately fell asleep. They worked day and night with little time for recreation. Without tents, the rain soaked them and their clothes. When the rain stopped it took awhile, but they did dry out.
Food was canned rations. Oatmeal, dried eggs and coffee for breakfast. Lunch, if available, consisted of Spam sandwiches or corn beef and coffee. For supper they were given canned Vienna sausage, dried onions and dried potatoes.
They did have #10 cans of apple butter and butter. The food was horrible, but the cooks did the best they could.