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阿拉斯加荒野与加拿大的育空省
(Yukon Territory )
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阿拉斯加州的爱尔肯公路 (Alcan
Highway) 开通了：1942年11月21日
当日本军队侵入到阿留申群岛 (Aleutian
Islands) 的时候，尽早完成这条公路的修建便成为相当急迫的是。于是，有超过1万名美国士兵和加拿大军队，以及一些独立的承包商在8个月内共同完成这项艰钜的伟大工程！建筑公路的美国军队中，包括了四个美国陆军黑人工程师团 (Army’s
Black Corps of Engineers) 。所有的士兵都是在相当恶劣的环境中工作。蚊子与苍蝇在夏季炎热的天气里成群飞来飞去，而冬天来临时，气温又会降到零下40度左右，让这些士兵冷澈入骨。为了建造西卡尼酋长河桥 (Sikanni
Chief River Bridge) ，士兵们必须在冰冷的河水中架设支架。为了要振奋士气，于是有些士兵就高声唱歌。其中部分主要来自南部各州的非裔美籍士兵会唱着古老的工作歌曲，例如
“Steel-Driving Song”。
When the Japanese invaded the nearby Aleutian Islands, completing the highway became even more urgent. More than 10,000 U.S. troops worked in cooperation with Canadian troops and independent contractors to accomplish this remarkable engineering feat in just over eight months! Among those soldiers building the Alcan Highway were four units of the Army's Black Corps of Engineers. All troops worked under extreme conditions. Mosquitoes and flies swarmed them in the summer heat, and temperatures near 40 degrees below zero chilled them to the bone in winter for weeks on end. To build the Sikanni Chief River Bridge, men waded chest deep into freezing waters to place the trestles. To keep themselves going, some of the men sang. Some African American soldiers, mainly from the South, sang old work chants like this "Steel-Driving Song."
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