Hitler's Third Reich and World War II in the News is a daily edited review of WWII news, providing thought-provoking collection of hand-picked WW2 information.

WW2 category: WWII Alaska: Aleutian Islands campaign: Attu, Kiska islands  -- See latest WWII news here. See also 'Okinawa', 'WWII tours, journeys'.

WW2 map leads student to segregated compound on Umnak Island in the Aleutian Islands     adn.com :: 2009-02-23
A strange notation on an old map of Fort Glenn had Chris Roe puzzled. He had obtained a copy of the WW2 document for a project in pursuit of his master's degree. An army veteran and history buff, he knew the jargon to understand most of what he saw. "AE" designated the quarters and facilities for Company A of the Engineering Regiment. But area "N"? So he checked the Post Diary, an official synopsis of day-by-day activities. "I saw an entry that in April 1943 the Second Battalion of the 93rd Engineering Regiment (Colored) had arrived." It was one of the African-American Army units that built the Alaska Highway, and the last all-black military unit.     [Black Soldiers & Units]

Army stops retiree pay for Alaskans in World War II militia force     nytimes.com :: 2009-01-26
The U.S. Army has cut off retirement pay for veterans of a militia formed to guard the territory of Alaska from the threat of Japanese attack during World War 2. The change means 26 members of the Alaska Territorial Guard will lose up to $557 in month. 300 members are still living from the original 6,600-member unit called up 1942-1947 to scout patrols, build airstrips and do other duties. Only a fraction of them had enough other military service to reach the 20-year requirement for retirement pay. "We did not get one cent being in the territorial guard. And we worked hard," says Paul Kiunya.     [WWII Alaska: Aleutian Islands campaign: Attu, Kiska islands]

The Aleutians Islands World War II campaign was filled with misery     ww2f.com :: 2008-09-02
Article no longer available from the original source.
In the summer of 1943, Lt. Bernard Kasten saw the sun just twice. "It's 1,000 miles from Dutch Harbor to Attu. They are the most brutal miles in the Pacific Ocean. For 15 months, that is where we fought one of the toughest campaigns of WW2." Kasten feels the long Aleutians Islands campaign has been largely forgotten. It began with the Japanese bombing Dutch Harbor's naval base. It included one battle on Attu Island and a surprise, when it was found the Japanese had emptied Kiska Island. The rest, Kasten said, was pure misery, adding that the only authentic book about this campaign is "The Thousand Miles War" by Brian Garfield.    

After a difficult excavation of WWII battle site, searchers find Japanese remains on Attu Island     adn :: 2008-06-02
The searchers dug for days, getting blisters and sore muscles, to look for remains of some of the 2,000 Japanese soldiers laid to rest in mass graves on the Aleutian island of Attu after a WWII battle. But old bullets and barbed wire were all that emerged from beneath the tundra - until the end of the 2-week mission. On May 23, searchers struck their shovels on wood boxes and found the bones of two Japanese soldiers buried by their comrades during the 1943 Battle of Attu. "We were at a disadvantage because we were digging with hand tools and the graves were originally dug with bulldozers," said Lt. Col. Matt Kristoff.    

Japan Search for World War II Japanese MIAs in Alaska     defenselink :: 2008-05-14
The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) told that a team of Japanese and U.S. specialists is visiting Attu Island, Alaska, in search of locations of the Japanese soldiers who are missing from a 1943 WWII battle. The team's work on Attu Island will be supported by Army engineers from Ft. Richardson, who will also employ ground-penetrating radar to locate remains and guard against unexploded ordnance. In June 1942 a unit of the Japanese Army occupied Attu, and in May 1943 American forces started to recapture the small island. It was the site of the only land battle in WWII in North America.    

WW2 veteran fights to have monument removed from Alaskan battlefield     chicagotribune :: 2008-03-25
Many decades have passed since the Battle of Attu ended, but Bill Jones has a new foe on the island. When he traveled back to the remote Aleutian battlefield he was astonished to see a large titanium starburst - The World War II monument placed there by Japan in 1987. Jones, who owes his survival of that battle to the death of another American, had no idea it was there. An inscription reads: "In memory of all those who sacrificed their lives in the islands and seas of the North Pacific during World War II..." But Jones regards the starburst as a memorial to the Japanese, and nothing more.    

Alaska: The Most Important Strategic Place in the World -- Part 2     howestreet :: 2008-02-15
In his last appearance before he died "Billy" Mitchell (1879-1936) took the stand before the U.S. House of Representatives, pleading them to realize the importance of Alaska: "...in the future, whoever holds Alaska will hold the world. I think it is the most important strategic place in the world." Congress did not act. It took decades for people to begin to value the strategic importance of the roof of the world. But as any Navy planner can tell you, strategy must follow logistics and not vice versa. Today there is no question that Billy Mitchell was a visionary: Alaska is an unsinkable aircraft carrier at the center of the Northern Hemisphere.    

Alaskan Islands show World War II scars - Pillboxes and bunkers     zwire :: 2007-12-30
At the end of the driveway concrete structure sat partly obscured by Arctic wildflowers. For anyone in the military, it was evident it was a pillbox. Pillboxes, bunkers and gun placements are common sights in Dutch Harbor, an Aleutian Island port built over its World War II past. The only places in the US that were bombarded and occupied by the enemy were a series of isles in the great island chain of Alaska called the Aleutians. On June 3 and 4, 1942, Japanese planes swooped low over Dutch Harbor, bombing U.S. Army and Navy facilities. The best place to get a sense of the military buildup of Dutch Harbor is the site of Fort Schwatka, now a National Historic Area.     [Forts and Fortifications of World War II]

Japanese invasion of Alaska - Red, White, Black & Blue documentary     documentaryfilms.net :: 2007-10-30
"That thing shouldn't be here," Bill Jones says about the Japanese monument on the tundra of Attu, one of Alaska's Aleutian Islands. His voice cracks as he recalls fighting Japanese soldiers in this forgotten World War II wasteland. "It doesn't belong on Attu. It doesn't belong on Engineer Hill." Red, White, Black & Blue documentary by Matt Radecki tells the story of the little-known Japanese invasion of Alaska and the battle to take it back. "The U.S. and Canadian govts didn't want to panic the population, so they kept it a secret. The unintended result is that it's really remained an unknown story," Putnam says.     [WWII Alaska: Aleutian Islands campaign: Attu, Kiska islands]

Allies in Wartime: The Alaska-Siberia Airway During World War II     juneauempire :: 2007-08-10
During WWII, Soviet Army officer Boris Dolitsky in Siberia and couldn't help but notice the influx of American goods pouring into the country. But he was like many of the Soviet people, who knew little about the scope of the 4-year Alaska-Siberia Lend-Lease Program, which shuttled 8,000 aircraft and billions of dollars' worth of goods during its 31-month run 1942-1945. Much of that was the raw material that enabled the Soviet military's mobility. "This chapter of history was sort of forgotten," said Alexander Dolitsky, Boris' son, and the author of "Allies in Wartime: The Alaska-Siberia Airway During World War II."     [Soviet Union]

World War II mass graves confirmed in Alaska     earthtimes :: 2007-07-19
Mass graves believed to hold the remains of 2,300 Japanese WWII soldiers killed on the Aleutian island of Attu have been confirmed. Maj. Chris Johnson says 4-day expedition turned up clothing and remains that confirmed the burial sites listed in a 1953 report. "During that first day we found 2 boots; both left feet and different sizes. But we found the remains of foot bones in overboots, then we knew we had indeed found the burial sites." Japanese troops occupied the island of Attu in June 1942 but U.S. forces retook the island year later. The Americans lost 549 troops while the Japanese, fighting to the last man, sustained 2,300 casualties.     [WWII Mass Graves]

U.S., Japanese Investigators Seek World War II Dead in Alaska     bloomberg :: 2007-07-17
US and Japanese investigators are searching for the remains of Japanese soldiers who died in WWII's only ground battle in North America, the Pentagon said. Japanese forces seized Alaska's Attu Island in June 1942. It was recaptured by U.S. troops the following May in fighting that led to 540 American and 2,300 Japanese deaths. 5 Japanese and 3 American "specialists" flew to the island. The team is investigating potential loss or burial sites where the remains of Japanese soldiers may be found. U.S. forces found only 235 sets of Japanese remains after the war. They were buried at Fort Richardson, near Anchorage.     [WWII Alaska: Aleutian Islands campaign: Attu, Kiska islands]

Army sent him to Aleutian Islands to spy on Japanese planes     roanoke :: 2006-07-31
During World War II, the Army sent Lt. Earl Acuff to a remote location in the Aleutian Islands to spy on Japanese aircrafts. He was able to warn the Army about several attacks. However, months went by, and the Army heard nothing from him. The Alaskan Scouts, a unit of commando rangers under the leadership of Col. Lawrence Castner, were sent out to recover his body. Acuff, however, was far from dead. "I was living like a king," he recalled with a chuckle. "They told me not to break radio sound unless I saw a Japanese plane, so I didn't." Alaskan Scouts, also known as Castner's Cutthroats, were a band of trappers and hunters who fought off the Japanese in WWII.    

Military lab identifies Navy airmen from 1942, Alaska crash     ktva :: 2006-05-14
Article no longer available from the original source.
Military lab has identified the remains of seven Navy airmen whose plane crashed on a Japanese-held island in the Aleutians during World War Two. Personnel from Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii excavated the crash site on the slope of Kiska Volcano. The crew was flying from Kodiak Island on June 14th, 1942, to attack Japanese targets in Kiska Harbor. The plane crashed after encountering heavy anti-aircraft fire and bad weather. The remains of all seven were declared unrecoverable until 2002, when a wildlife biologist found the wreckage.     [World War 2 Plane Crashes]

Alaska's Bloodiest Battle - The History Channel     history.com :: 2006-03-04
In 1942 and 1943, the Aleutian Islands in Alaska played host to the only armed conflict fought on American soil since the War of 1812. In an effort to draw resources away from the Battle of Midway, Japanese forces bombed Alaska's Dutch Harbor, setting up a year-long occupation of the islands of Kiska and Attu with 3,000 soldiers. In May of 1943, a force of 11,000 Americans landed on Attu. They were met with the bone-chilling cold of the Alaskan winter and found themselves battling the unforgiving tundra as much as the Japanese themselves. The 3-week battle was one of the bloodiest in all of WWII.     [WWII Alaska: Aleutian Islands campaign: Attu, Kiska islands]

Watching the enemy from the side of an ice-coated mountain     lompocrecord :: 2006-03-01
The Japanese had taken over Attu and 4 other islands and were preparing to capture Dutch Harbor when U.S. troops recaptured the islands. Sgt. Anderson arrived at Attu in Alaska just a few months after its return to US control. Living in a wooden shack cut into the side of an ice-coated mountain, Kenneth Ray Anderson shared the only room with 4 other soldiers. The only window was the observation point for a telescope manned day and night to track Japanese ships. To exit the tiny shack during the winter, the soldiers had to dig through ice and snow almost daily.    

WWII internment of Aleuts recounted in documentary     usatoday :: 2005-12-05
A new documentary film, Aleut Story, includes this testimony from Bourdukofsky and other Aleuts in chronicling the little-known internment of 881 Alaska Natives from the Pribilof and Aleutian Islands during World War II. Many in the film are speaking publicly for the first time about their experiences in the camps, where they were sent after troops from Japan invaded Alaska's western outposts in June 1942.    

See also:
'Okinawa'
'WWII tours, journeys'.

Although the articles linked from Adolf Hitler's Third Reich 1933-1945 and World War II in the News are reviewed and specially selected, they do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, who is not responsible for the content of any external sites. This service is © Joni Nuutinen 2005-2010. All rights reserved.