This is a sign post near the WW2 exhibit at the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Airshow in Osh Kosh ,Wisconsin . It is exactly as the ones that were placed all around the world by servicemen . I worked with a man Carl Lindley who in WW2 was working on the Alaska road and got hurt and was layed up in sick bay for quite awhile. Getting very board , one day he figured out the mileage to Danville,Illinois his hometown and made a sign stating such. He pointed it in the direction and nailed it to a post in front of his tent. Soon everybody in camp or passing through wanted Carl to do the same for them. The brass permitted it because it was good for morale and most of them had signs hanging on the post to. Carl would heal up and go to Europe and go through the Battle of the Bulge. Upon retuning to the states and home after the war, and not ever thinking about the signs he had made years before. Suddenly one day he was contacted by the authority's of Dawson City ,Alaska. They wanted to know if he was the guy responsible for putting up all these signs, which he figured had long since dissappeared. Wrong the signs had taken on a life all there own. Any and everyone who went by had seen to it to post a sign showing there hometown, mileage, and point it in the right direction. It was now called SIGNPOST City, Alaska. They local government had looked for years for the guy who had done this. Carl by now was feeling quite uncomfortable and didn't know what to expect. Well Carl Lindley of Danville,Illinois wasn't in trouble, it seems that the local officials wanted to honor him for creating this marvel. He was a regular heroe. Each year there is a huge festival there to celebrate what would not have been there without Carl hanging that 1st sign in 1942 . He was indeed a very famous person and celebrity in his own way. SignPost city was copy writed by Carl and it is a state monument. The town would fly Carl and his wife up for the celebration every year and pay all expenses. It continues to still grow with every passerby. I took this picture for fun. I was showing my vacation pictures at work when Carl who was a supervisor came and looked at them, I figured I was in truoble now. He oulled out this picture and said he was the guy responsible for it . YA ok I said waiting to be punished. Nothing happened that day, so I thought I was out of it. The next day bright and early Carl says he wants to see me. Boy was I shocked and pleased when he pulled out this box full of documents,papers,magazines,and pictures all of him and about him and what he had done. He was a Backard Hero, but never like to be called or told that . He was doing his job , he would always say. Carl died a few years ago and our hometown paper got wind of of his story. They played it up good. I think Carl would have been mad, after all he came home and in his mind hero's didn't and don't.
