American Experience
Season 17 Episode 4 - Building the Alaska Highway
Recalls the construction of the 1500-mile "shortcut to Tokyo" through Canada in 1942 by 11,000 U.S. troops (4,000 of them black). It wasn't the Army's greatest World War II triumph, but it was one of the first, and it gave Americans, who feared a Japanese buildup in the Aleutians, a needed morale boost. This hour is light on military and engineering detail, and packed with proud GIs recalling mud, cold and toil.
Episodes in Season 17
RFK (Part 1 & 2)
55 min
The Fight
55 min
Fidel Castro
55 min
Building the Alaska Highway
55 min
Kinsey
55 min
Mary Pickford
55 min
The Great Transatlantic Cable
55 min
The Massie Affair
55 min
Victory in the Pacific
55 min
The Carter Family: Will the Circle Be Unbroken?
55 min
Guerilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst
55 min