Alaska Highway. H&S Company. Born: 14 April 1912, Louisville, Jefferson, KY. Died: 2 March 1987, Louisville, Jefferson, KY.
He was a first Lieutenant in the reserve when he entered the Army on June 12, 1941. He was promoted to Captain on 5 October 1942 and discharged on Christmas Day in 1945.
He and his brother Ernest graduated from Rose Hulman Institute of Technology on the same day. John received a Mechanical Engineer degree.
His father, Herman R. Welsh (1882-1943), was employed as the secretary/treasurer of a ice and coal company. His mother, born in Germany, was Ida Elsa Hilmer (1884-1968). He married Juanita Lawrence Caufield on 22 May 1937 in Louisville, KY.
Captain John Welsh and his wife had two children, David and John, Jr. In 1943, he was an officer with the 95th Engineer Regiment working on the Alaska Highway when a black bear known as “the kitchen raider” broke into the company kitchen and ate 50 pounds of sugar. John said, “Next time he comes I’ll get him.” On January 5 of the same year, his two boys received the shaggy black bearskin. David called it, “Baa, Baa Black Sheep” and proudly stated that his daddy shot him. (The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky 5 January 1943.)
Captain Welsh arrived home on 15 August 1945. He had spent a year in Canada constructing the Alaska Highway then transferred to Europe with the 95th Regiment to rebuild bridges in France, Belgium and Germany.
Serial #O-32410
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