Alaska Highway. A Major assigned to Headquarters. Veteran WW1 and WW2. Born: 28 December 1895, Watertown, Wisconsin. Died: 27 January 1973, Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Enlisted: (1) 28 April 1917 and discharged 27 May 1919. (2) 1 May 1941 and discharged 8 February 1946.
He served with the Corps of Engineers in WW1 and WW2.
Newspaper, The Watertown News, 27 March 1918. WW1, Corporal Owain J. Hughes was with the 107th Regiment, Corps of Engineers. He writes a letter to his parents from France:
We have finally settle down for a time. We are billeted with the people in a small French village. This billeting is great stuff. Each family is given a few soldiers whom they must furnish a place to sleep. Of course we don’t sleep in beds but on straw. Our own company cooks take care of the feeding.
These villages must be similar to those Dad tells about that are in Wales. All the farmers are grouped together at one place and go out from there to till their land.
We do our own washing in a public washing place. This is a tank about eighteen inches deep, the sloping walls of which are of a close grained sandstone. The walls serve as wash boards, but believe me the stone ones do take out the dirt. The water comes from an extremely cold spring, but that makes but little difference. All the women in the town bring their clothes to this place to wash and then take them home to dry.
Don’t worry about me at all since I am feeling fine. Will write again soon.
He entered the Army Corps of Engineers on 1 May 1941 with the rank of Major and was assigned to Headquarters in the 95th Engineer (GS) Regiment. They built the southern sector of the Alaska Highway in British Columbia and Yukon Canada. Once the project was completed, he returned to the states and was shipped out to Karachi, India in the China, Burma, India theatre of the war. He was promoted to Colonel and retired from the service on 31 December 1955.
Education: University of Wisconsin graduate civil engineering.
Civilian occupation: Hughes had been a state highway engineer in Eau Claire, Wisconsin since February 1920. On August 1, 1920 he advanced to chief of party. October 18, 1926 he advanced to assistant highway engineer and in 1935 he was promoted to construction engineer. After serving in WW2, in 1951, Hughes was appointed State Highway Commissioner by Governor Walter Kohler.
His father was Owain Thomas Hughes (1848-1936) and his mother was Ellen Jones. His obituary records survivors, his wife, Helen Sprague, a son Lt. Col Owain J. Huges, Jr, a daughter and five grandchildren.
Serial #O-167288
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