Portraits of Courage: Winston Laughlin

Not everyone who served in the military during World War II saw combat. Yet, many of the actions of those servicemen contributed to the Allies’ victory as much as engaging in combat with enemy soldiers.

Winston Laughlin of Palmer made maps during the war on both European and Asian battlefronts.

“Our unit was regarded as very top secret,” he said. “We were restricted in talking about some of our contacts with people in other countries.”

Laughlin was drafted into the Army’s 30th Engineer Battalion at the age of 25 in 1942. He was trained at Fort Belvoir, Va.

At the time he was drafted, he was working and going to school in East Lansing, Mich. He graduated from the University of Minnesota before he was drafted.

Laughlin was sent to North Africa in November 1943 and helped make invasion maps for various places in Europe. He would use existing maps, aerial photographs and other information. When he got time off, he would travel around the area.

“It was eye-opening to see the near poverty of most of the people in Morocco and Algeria,” he said. “The people were very friendly, though. If we were friendly to them, they were friendly to us.”

After a year in North Africa, Laughlin was sent to the Pacific.

“We got as far as the Schofield Barracks on the island of Oahu,” he said. His unit started working on maps there, but the war was over before it could be sent deeper into the Pacific.

Each announcement of victory left Laughlin feeling “very much overjoyed.”

However, he didn’t get back home until almost four months after the war ended.

“It wasn’t until December 1945 that we were able to get transportation back to the states,” he said.

His unit was awarded the meritorious service medal for significantly contributing to the invasion of Europe.

Still, “The highlight was the end of the war,” Laughlin said.

While he never saw combat, Laughlin did have a harrowing flight when the unit flew from North Africa back to the United States.

“We had tremendous storms on the Atlantic,” he recalled.

After he was discharged, Laughlin went back home to East Lansing, back to school and worked there until September 1949, when he came to Alaska to work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He received advanced degrees in soil science from Michigan State University.

Without serving in the military, Laughlin doesn’t think he would have been able to complete his education, which he did through the G.I. Bill.

He had moved to Palmer to work as a scientist at the Alaska experimental station in 1949 after he finished school. He worked on cell testing, mapping and fertilizer development.

Laughlin’s message to today’s generation is to remember that “we have a wonderful country under God.”