The 95th Colored Engineer Regiment
The African-Americans Who Built the Road to Alaska during WW II
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Chapter 1 The Park’s Chicago Home in June 1964 “Teddy, you better get down here and eat before you hit the road.” said Teddy’s mother, Rose. “OK, Mom. I’ll be down shortly. “Teddy said. It had been seven years since he had been to Mississippi to see all his aunts, uncles and cousins that never left the South like his dad had over 20 years ago. Teddy’s Mom was from Chicago as were most of her relatives. Holidays were great because the house was full of kinfolks laughing, joking and having fun. Teddy had three first cousins all about his age, and they all went to the same High School in a Colored urban middle-class section of Chicago. They had a great football and basketball team that had both gone to the state championships the year before. Teddy and his cousin Ronny were both starters for both the basketball and football teams. Teddy had been named MVP on the football team. Although he was only a junior, he was larger and faster than most due to being held back a year before starting grammar school due an illness. Many college scouts had been at games looking at him for a scholarship. He had a 3.5 GPA, President of the class and very opular with the ladies. Teddy wasn’t serious about one girl but had been dating an attractive girl of Cuban descendent named Tina. He liked her but since he was so popular he was playing the field. His future could not have been brighter. His parents were looking forward to the day when he would graduate from college. The Chicago Tribune had even written an article on him and Ronny being cousins and on the same two sports teams. It ran in a particular section of a Sunday edition. Teddy’s Mom had his Dad get up at the crack of dawn the morning the article came out so he could go around town and buy 20 copies for her. The two of them couldn’t have been prouder of Teddy and his cousin. Teddy had worked hard after school and on the weekends to be able to buy him a used 1954 baby blue Pontiac. An elderly lady’s husband at his folk’s church had bought the car new from Witten Motors in his neighborhood, which was one of the first Negro owned car dealership in the state. After her husband passed on, the car just set in the driveway. Teddy had moved it several times while doing chores for Mrs. Abernathy. Somehow she heard Teddy was saving up for a car, so she decided to sell the 10-year-old car to Teddy for $150, a bargain considering the car’s pristine condition. The residents of this tight closeknit black middle-class neighborhood looked out for their neighbors and loved ones. Teddy never charged her anything since she lived on a small pension her husband had left her for his 36 years of service with the city gas company. This helping hand practice was the circle of life ethos that prevailed in the neighborhood. The main street of this neighborhood was lined with well-to-do patrons, shopping for food, new clothes, books, musical instruments and most anything else one could want. What they didn’t find there, a trip uptown could be relied upon on to suffice for their needs and it didn’t matter if you were Colored or white. Belief in God, family and country was preached and practiced at the Park’s household. Teddy’s Dad was a WW ll veteran and hero and had been awarded a Bronze Star for action in the South Pacific as an MP. Aaron Park believed in hard work, respect and a duty to his community. By any measure, the Parks were first-class citizens. His Dad had fought hard for his country and worked long hours to provide his family with everything they needed to succeed in life. Teddy admired his Dad and was proud of his achievements. Teddy’s Dad had grown up in North Mississippi and had managed to graduate from High School just six months before the Japs attacked Pearl Harbor. Although he had been a 2nd class citizen in rural Mississippi, he was proud to serve in the Army. He mustered in January of 1942 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, about 150 miles from New Orleans, Louisiana. At the time this as far away from home he had ever been. He wrote back to his mother, Miss Elle Mae Park, that they had pine trees bigger and taller than anything he had ever seen before. But sadly, he wrote, ”The first night we got out of the camp on a pass. Everybody in my company except for the commanding officer is a Negro. We had to drive to a small farm gas station that would serve Negros as long as they set in the black room and used the colored only restroom.” A second-class citizen was fighting for a first-class nation. Scooter completed his basic training and was immediately sent to train on heavy equipment like bulldozers and road graders used for road building. After a few weeks, the whole company received orders to move out. As they were drawing TA-50 load bearing equipment; helmets, cold weather gear, cots, sleeping bags and other field equipment) and a pair of boots the likes of which he had never seen. The platoon sergeant called them mukluks and they were for cold, snowy weather climates. Little did Scooter know that very soon he would be euphoric to have these boots that the Eskimos had invented. Scooter moved out with his unit a few days later still not sure where they were heading. Anyone that’s ever been in the service knows about rumors and the rumor mill that was in high gear now. They were put on a train in Jackson, Mississippi in what Scooter thought was their very particular car because the Colored troops had all to themselves.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
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.
About the Author
Mike Dryden was born in Monroe County, Mississippi in the late forties. He graduated from Amory High School in the sixties and Mississippi State University with a BS in Education. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the US Army and attended Rotary Wing Qualification School. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky as a helicopter pilot and aviation logistic maintenance officer. He left active duty and continued his military career until 1998 when he retired as a Major. He worked in a variety of jobs ranging from test pilot to ad salesperson until his retirement. He received a Master of Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and is a dual rated instrument commercial pilot. He has worked in both secondary and adult education fields in Alaska for the past fourteen years. He served as public affairs officer for the Alaska Wing Civil Air Patrol, editor of the Alaska CAP Wing Tips magazine and a mission pilot on search and rescue missions. He presently serves on the board of the Older Person Action Group and writes a monthly article on veterans’ health care issues in the Senior Voice newspaper. He also has contributed to the Stars and Stripes Alaska military newspaper on a broad range of subjects. His latest articles include a series of the contributions of the black soldiers during World War ll and the construction of the Alaska Highway. He is a volunteer for the State of Alaska Long-Term Care Ombudsman program where he advocates senior citizens rights residing in elder care facilities. He spends his spare time flying, substitute teaching traveling and writing fiction and non-fiction works.