Black soldiers built road In frozen Alaskan wasteland
During World War II, African American soldiers including veterans of Post #19 participated in several important projects with little recognition to further the war cause. For instance, in 1942, Comrade Otis Lee of the 95th Engineers participated in an engineering feat. Lee, along with 3,600 other African American soldiers, comprised part of a 10,000 American soldier contingency that constructed the 1,442 Alaska Highway in a mere eight months. The soldiers had to battle blinding snow and temperatures as much as 70 degrees below freezing to finish the road.
The project cut across five mountain ranges and 100 rivers. The highway was commissioned to ensure a secure land route between the continental United States and its most western shore in Alaska in case of a Japanese invasion. "It was extremely cold," said Lee, and during much of the year, we only had a few hours of daylight, so you had to do what you could. During the warm season many of the men I was with came down with yellow jaundice, but I was lucky; I never caught it."
The army at the time was segregated, and many believed that "colored" soldiers could not perform such as task adequately especially during the Alaskan winter. The project commander even barred all black soldiers from towns and cities forcing them to entertain themselves in the barren landscape. According to Lee, the order did not affect the troops too much because there weren't any towns anyway. Still, those like Otis Lee proved that African Americans could perform any type of task under any type of circumstance and still come through with excellence. (Excerpts from the Baltimore Sun)