An engineering miracle—the building during World War II of the emergency 1,522 mile-long Alcan Highway to link Alaska with the USA—soon will be credited to an all-Black unit of the Army Corps of Engineers

Jet, August 15, 2005 by Simeon Booker

An engineering miracle--the building during World War II of the emergency 1,522 mile-long Alcan Highway to link Alaska with the USA--soon will be credited to an all-Black unit of the Army Corps of Engineers. The Black troops needed eight months and 12 days to build the only land link to Alaska in an unmapped wilderness with record low temperatures of -78 degrees. This achievement received little praise at the time because the military integrated its ranks soon afterwards and there was no mention in history books of the phenomenal accomplishment of the heroic Black soldiers.

Simeon Booker, Washington Bureau Chief