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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pvt. John Parys, a 29-year-old
machine shop foreman from Rhode Island, traveled by rail west across
America with other green Soldiers in late 1944, presumably on their
way to combat someplace in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater. No one told
them where.
During a stop in the Midwest, a sergeant ordered
everyone to dump their duffels and remove all jungle warfare and
tropical gear. Parys and his fellow troops were confused by this as
the headline battles were being fought in the tropics. It made sense
later as they sailed from Seattle to Whittier.
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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Soldier Pvt. John Parys in
Southcentral Alaska during World War II. Parys was deployed to the
overseas war zone of Alaska for 18 months between 1944-46 and was
stationed at the SECRET facility H-12, which is modern-day Whittier.
Parys took hundreds of photos while in Alaska which have only
recently been made available through the efforts of his son, Ken
Parys. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Richard Packer)
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“Father told me the boat also delivered construction material,”
said Ken Parys, John’s son who spent last week touring Alaska with
his wife, Betty. “They used those supplies to build infrastructure
necessary to support themselves through winter.”
“The Army
chose this area because the water here is ice-free year-round,” said
Patrick Durand, president of the Engine 557 Restoration Company,
Whittier historian and the Parys’ volunteer tour guide for the day.
“They needed a new port because navigation in Cook Inlet ceased by
November each year with development of brash ice at the exposed
Anchorage dock.”
According to Durand, Whittier was entirely
constructed and operated by the military during World War II. It was
a SECRET facility known as H-12 and was built solely to support the
war effort and provide a more reliable supply route for the Alaska
Rail Road. There were no civilian residents to bolster the labor
force.
“Construction started in November 1941,” said Durand.
“On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.”
Durand also said that because Alaska was considered an overseas war
zone, many non-military residents were forcibly removed and
transported at government expense to the continental U.S. Those who
remained followed strict blackout orders across the territory which
restricted the use of visible light at night, thus denying the enemy
easy targets while flying through the darkness.
As a SECRET
facility, photography was banned in Whittier. This is what makes the
John Parys collection so unique. He used an Argus C-3 35mm camera to
take hundreds of photos of his tour in Alaska. He photographed
buildings, construction, people, landscapes and wildlife and even
kept notes on the back of many photos. A selection of the
one-of-a-kind pictures, notes and supplemental commentary by Durand
can be viewed at
AlaskaRails.org.
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September 14, 2017 - Ken Parys stands beside photos from the John
Parys Collection on display in the ground-level hallway of
Begich Towers Incorporated in Whittier, Alaska. John Parys, Ken's
father, was a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Soldier stationed in
Whittier when it was a SECRET facility referred to as H-12 during
World War II. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Richard Packer)
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Though John Parys spent 18 months living and working in
Whittier, there is little there manmade which he would
recognize today.
“The Alaska Communications System
building was the first permanent building in Whittier and is
the only surviving structure from the 1942-50 era,” said
Durand. “During the war it was a secure facility operated by
the Army Signal Corps. Today it is the first two floors of
the Anchor Inn.”
After the war, John Parys returned
to Rhode Island to work in manufacturing. He eventually
retired after decades of being a plant foreman. Both he and
his wife died in 1999, leaving a lifetime of possessions for
their three children to sort through.
Ken Parys
retired about a decade after his father died. That’s when he
discovered the photo albums and scrapbooks from his father’s
wartime service.
“They were in a pile of boxes and such that were set aside to be
thrown out,” said Ken Parys. “My siblings and I had never known
about them; we didn’t even know to look for them.”
Since then
Ken Parys has been on a mission to document and share his father’s
collection with anyone who might appreciate them. Ken donated his
father’s wartime uniform to U.S. Army Alaska, complete with an early
version of the polar bear shoulder patch still worn by America’s
Arctic Warriors today. The uniform has been displayed in Joint Base
Elmendorf-Richardson’s Gold Rush Inn for years.
“It is an
amazing experience to see the places in my father’s pictures, but my
interest is greater than father’s personal history and his service
here,” said Ken Parys. “I’m intent on placing these family artifacts
where they can best contribute to the collective historical
knowledge of Army operations in Alaska.”
The Parys’ first
stop in Whittier was Begich Towers, a 196-unit condominium which
houses the majority of the town’s year-round residents. There they
met Dr. Karen Dempster, president of Begich Towers Incorporated and
curator of historical Whittier imagery and stories. She showed them
historical photos displayed along the first floor of Begich Towers.
Prominently displayed among them were images from the
John Parys
collection.
“I am so grateful that Ken saved these photos
and notebooks from the dumpster,” said Dempster. “These amazing photos
from those who experienced Whittier’s history and were here 70 years
ago keep trickling in. We scoop them up wherever we find them.”
By U.S. Army Capt. Richard Packer
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2017
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