The World War II Black Regiment that Built the Alaska Military Highway
Title | The World War II Black Regiment that Built the Alaska Military Highway PDF eBook |
Author | William E. Griggs |
Publisher | Univ. Press of Mississippi |
Pages | 116 |
Release | 2002 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 9781578065042 |
A photographic record of a black regiment's contribution to safeguarding Alaska from Japanese invasion
The Black Soldiers Who Built the Alaska Highway
Title | The Black Soldiers Who Built the Alaska Highway PDF eBook |
Author | John Virtue |
Publisher | McFarland |
Pages | 229 |
Release | 2012-12-11 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 0786471174 |
This is the first detailed account of the 5,000 black troops who were reluctantly sent north by the United States Army during World War II to help build the Alaska Highway and install the companion Canol pipeline. Theirs were the first black regiments deployed outside the lower 48 states during the war. The enlisted men, most of them from the South, faced racial discrimination from white officers, were barred from entering any towns for fear they would procreate a "mongrel" race with local women, and endured winter conditions they had never experienced before. Despite this, they won praise for their dedication and their work. Congress in 2005 said that the wartime service of the four regiments covered here contributed to the eventual desegregation of the Armed Forces.
The 95Th Colored Engineer Regiment
Title | The 95Th Colored Engineer Regiment PDF eBook |
Author | Mike Dryden |
Publisher | AuthorHouse |
Pages | 193 |
Release | 2016-09-06 |
Genre | Fiction |
ISBN | 1524627917 |
The 95th Colored Engineer Regiment is a fictional account of a little-known historical fact; a third of the 10,000 plus US Army troops who built the Alaska-Canada Highway, also known as the Alcan, during WW II were African-Americans from the South. The bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, set in motion a project to connect the territory of Alaska to the lower 48 states. The project had been on the drawing board for many years but had been on hold over budget concerns and the route. All of those issues became mute on December 7, 1941. The War Department ordered the Army to begin a road construction project from Dawson Creek, BC Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska. The project began in early 1942 when over 10,000 troops arrived in various locations to commence the 1500 mile road project. A little-known fact is that over a third of the workforce were African-Americans from the rural South. These former tenant farmers would demonstrate to the War Department they could use construction equipment, supervise the workforce and on one important project, the Sikanna Chief River Bridge, outperform the white units. The three Colored Regiments despite having been issued all the hand-me-downs from the white regiments, the worst sections of roads to be built and the least amount of support from the Alaskan Command, performed beyond expectations. The Colored Engineer Regiments were commanded by white officers, and NCOs and exposed to the same racial discrimination they had to endure in the South. But through hard work and dedication, these young men impressed the military leaders. Some historians believe the work of the Colored Engineer Regiments, the Tuskegee Airmen and the 761st Tank Regiment (Black Panthers) were the beginning of the drive to desegregate the Armed Forces by President Harry Truman in 1948.
A Different Race
Title | A Different Race PDF eBook |
Author | Christine and Dennis McClure |
Publisher | Little Lands End Publishing, LLP |
Pages | 220 |
Release | 2021-01-01 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 1735841714 |
The United States needed a road to Alaska so they could defend the Aleutians from Japan. They sent soldiers to build the Alaska Highway. The segregated Black 97th Engineers built the road in Alaska, and when their disorganized white officers struggled to make progress, the army replaced their commander. The new one got the job done but ignored military protocol and discipline, so the army, worried about undisciplined black soldiers, replaced him too. And to put the fear of God into the soldiers, the army trumped up a mutiny charge against ten of them and sentenced them to long prison terms at hard labor.
The Black Soldiers Who Built the Alaska Highway
Title | The Black Soldiers Who Built the Alaska Highway PDF eBook |
Author | John Virtue |
Publisher | McFarland |
Pages | 229 |
Release | 2012-11-16 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 1476600392 |
This is the first detailed account of the 5,000 black troops who were reluctantly sent north by the United States Army during World War II to help build the Alaska Highway and install the companion Canol pipeline. Theirs were the first black regiments deployed outside the lower 48 states during the war. The enlisted men, most of them from the South, faced racial discrimination from white officers, were barred from entering any towns for fear they would procreate a "mongrel" race with local women, and endured winter conditions they had never experienced before. Despite this, they won praise for their dedication and their work. Congress in 2005 said that the wartime service of the four regiments covered here contributed to the eventual desegregation of the Armed Forces.
The Engineer
Title | The Engineer PDF eBook |
Author | |
Publisher | |
Pages | 464 |
Release | 2007 |
Genre | Military engineering |
ISBN |
Photo History of the Black 95th Engineer General Service Regiment in World War II
Title | Photo History of the Black 95th Engineer General Service Regiment in World War II PDF eBook |
Author | |
Publisher | |
Pages | 74 |
Release | 2017-12 |
Genre | |
ISBN | 9780999582725 |