Alaska Highway, African American, Ranking NCO 93rd Regimental Operations, Regular Army, Corps of Engineers, H&S Company.
Born: 9 February 1919, Bolton, Hinds, Mississippi. Died: 21 December 2003, Jackson, Hinds, MS. Enlisted: 11 June 1941 at Jackson, MS.
Education: four years of college. Lived in Hinds County, MS. He received a BA degree in economics from Tougaloo College and served as president of Tougaloo College in Mississippi from 1964 to 1984. His father was Charley Owens and his mother was Robbie Henry.
He was a share cropper’s son. General Benjamin Davis encouraged him to apply to Officer Candidate School. He and Charles Gardner, of the 93rd, had difficulty just getting an application for OCS. The white officers couldn’t locate any forms and there was no official announcement that blacks could apply to OCS. Owens asked a buddy to get the forms. Once they completed the form, the next step was obtaining a recommendation from a commissioned officer. He asked a graduate engineer from the Colorado School of Mines to give him a recommendation.
He and Gardner shipped out with the 93rd Engineers to Skagway in April 1942. They spent six months working on the Alaska Highway before their OCS applications were approved.
Serial # 14053857
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