U.S. Army Invades Skagway

During April 1942, thousands of American troops suddenly arrived in Skagway, transforming the small town into a major wartime transportation center. Even before Japan bombed Dutch Harbor and invaded Attu and Kiska in June 1942, the U.S. Army had recognized Alaska's strategic importance and began using the White Pass & Yukon Route railroad to supply defense projects in the interior, including the Alcan Highway, Canol Pipeline, and airfields along the Northwest Staging Route. A railroad that had previously run two trains daily to Whitehorse now had to operate 17 to 20 trains each day, and the 770th Railway Operating Battalion took command of the 110-mile line across difficult terrain. Conditions were often severe, and Private Howard Foley said, "That line's too steep for a goat and too cold for a polar bear." As many as 5,000 people were stationed in Skagway, where Quonset huts filled vacant lots and the Army took over many existing buildings. Cement, pipe, bulldozers, and about 22,000 troops and construction workers passed through the town. After the war ended in 1946, the railroad and Skagway residents returned to peacetime operations, proud of the transportation role they had played during World War II.

Skagway, Alaska · United States