Oct. 1996
                                                                   ALASKA
I received my high school diploma in 1940. That occurred within a few days of my twenty-first birthday. This gave me the distinction of being the oldest member of the class. What took me so long? It may surprise you to learn that many young men in the community, just a few years my senior graduated from grade school and never returned to the formal classroom. There were several reasons for this. Money was scarce. Many were subsistence farmers and in many cases it was not possible to commute. Staying in town with a family was an option for some girls. They would do domestic work to pay for part of the board and room. Jobs for boys who stayed in town, were hard to find. It is safe to say that girls from the rural areas attended high school while their brothers stayed home and worked. This was true in my family. In fact four of my sisters finished high school and my three older brothers did not. I tried to join the Navy right after graduation but was not accepted. I needed to be circumcised. After surgery and healing it was late September before I became a Navy recruit. I took the oath at Kansas City and was soon on a train bound for Great Lakes Naval Training Station, Wakeegen, Illinois on the shores of Lake Michigan. Recruit training was a breeze. I think that it was an enjoyable time. I had been on my own for a while and that helped. Some who came directly from home found it harder to adjust. One recruit ended his Naval career by jumping off the water tower. Six years later 1 was paid off as a Chief Machinists Mate. My work was operating and maintaining machinery. I was content in that line of work. We often made repair parts in the machine shop. When I left the Navy it was my intention to obtain an engineers licence and return to the sea. This did not happen. In fact labor unions were the reason for my decision. At that time labor unions were gaining strength. It is probable that they operated within the law but they often used intimidating tactics. Woe to anyone who opposed them. We Navy personnel at Dearborn, Michigan during the first Ford Motor Co. strike were well aware of how brutal they could be. I was lead to believe that Maritime unions were the worst of the lot. After seeing the men who worked along the docks, I could well believe that. Under the system of that time, membership in a union was necessary before any job was available. I wanted no part of the unions, to independent perhaps. Well! Here I was in Seattle, Wash., and at loose ends. I was far from home with little money but that was not a thing to worry about. This was certainly not the first time. Somehow the word came that a contractor was hiring men for work on an air base at Fairbanks, Alaska, Ladd Field. Well! why not go. At the hiring desk I signed on for a year. What do you suppose was the first requirement? I joined the union as a common laborer and a group of us were soon on a plane bound for Alaska, We touched down at Whitehorse, Canada, Yukon territory and soon arrived at Fairbanks. We lived in barracks and ate at a mess hall. This was certainly nothing new. I had done that for many years. The food was plentiful and good and the huts for sleeping were comfortable. They were heated by an oil burning stove that was filled from a five gallon can. A spare can full was always kept inside. This was necessary because of the intense cold. Fuel would turn to jelly outside. It was hot in the day time when I arrived in August and the days were long. I was not there when the days were longest. Farther north there is a time of year when it does not get dark.
I saw my first permafrost. What, pray tell is that? Much of interior Alaska is frozen permanently. The southwestern islands are warmed by the ocean but farther north, inland the tundra will thaw on the surface. It will even get like a bog in places. Below the surface the ground is permanently frozen. I often wondered how they handle the water supply and I don't know the answer. They were building barracks, roads and other buildings. I worked with a jack hammer crew. Where ever digging was required we loosened the frozen earth. The work was not hard. As winter came on we were not doing much. In fact some days we were sent to isolated places where our idleness could not be seen. This was a cost plus project. Such a practice was common during the war. A contractor would bid on a project and agree to do the job at cost plus a percentage of the cost as his profit. In theory it sounded good because die contractor could not lose; but I suspect the system was abused. You see, the more the project cost the bigger the contractor's profit. I suspect that they had more men on the payroll than was actually needed. About mid November the word was passed that anyone who wanted to do so could have their contract cancelled and the company would fly them back to the States. I choose to do so with full intentions of returning in the spring. It has been a long winter. I never returned. Alaska is a big state. The landscape is as varied as the weather. Anchorage and the southeastern islands have a rather mild climate. It is warmed by the ocean. The terrain is rough. Vegetation is plentiful. There are mountains and glaciers and an abundance of water. If my memory is correct, the area around Fairbanks is rather flat. I was there in forty seven. At that time it was possible to drive from the States up the Alcan highway to the interior. The Alcan joined the Richardson and the Glenn highways. One went to Fairbanks and the other to Anchorage. I suspect they were built by the Army. I know the Alcan was. A local man, the late Jack Conard, worked on it. Freight was moved in the winter by Cat trains - a train of sleds pulled by a Crawler tractor. I knew a man who worked on one. In summer, much of the land was covered with a spongy mass called muskeg. About the only traffic it would support was foot traffic. Of course water traffic was common in summer. I thought it was a land of opportunity.