The 95Th Colored Engineer Regiment: The African-Americans Who Built the Road to Alaska During Ww Ii
By Mike Dryden
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About this ebook
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.
Mike Dryden
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 salesman 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 on 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, traveling and writing fiction and non-fiction works.
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