Northwest Service Command Soldier Portrait
To the left is a portrait of an unidentified American soldier who served as a private in the US Army. The private is depicted in his Army dress uniform with a small number of awards and insignia. As for insignia, unfortunately the collar disk visible in the image is unidentifiable due to some glare in the photograph however on his sleeve you can identify his rank insignia being the rank of private and directly above it is his unit insignia being the Northwest Service Command. Above his left breast pocket going from left to right he has been awarded the Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal, the American Campaign Medal, and lastly his Marksman Qualification Badge likely for rifle qualification. This particular photograph is held within it's original folding cardboard frame for storage and display. This photograph was obtained from a flea market in the Cleveland area in 2020.
Pictured to the left is an example of the Northwest Service Command sleeve insignia. The NWSC was activated September 2, 1942 at White Horse. The unit's primary mission was to construct, operate, and maintain the new Alcan Highway starting from Fort St. John in British Columbia spanning a total of 1,600 miles in length in order to connect Alaska to the mainland United States. In addition, the unit was also tasked with the operation of the railway between Skagway, Alaska and Whitehorse as well as overseeing the Canol Project which was the construction of a pipeline to ensure a supply of oil for the defense of Alaska and the North American west coast. The project began in 1942 and was completed in two years in 1944 at an astronomical cost yet was abandoned less than a year after it's completion. Due to a combination of the pipeline's remoteness as well as challenging conditions the costs to provide fuel via the Canol were considerably higher than having fuel arrive via tanker. On March 8, 1945 the US War Department made the decision to shut the project down in it's entirety.