Construction and Maintenance of the Alaska Highway Archives Gallery
40/62
In his account of Les Cook’s heroic flight, Fred Rust remarks that "To fly a plane up the valleys and land in the basin on that dark night seemed suicidal." On that dark night in November of 1942, Mr. Cook landed his plane safely at the Donjek River camp. A month later, he died tragically in Whitehorse. Mr. Rust also published the letter written by Mr. Cook’s wife after his death, thanking the U.S. Army officers for a watch they presented to his son, Les Jr., in memoriam.
Yukon Archives. Fred Rust, The 18th Engineers Regiment in Yukon Territory, 1945, Pages 62 and 63