Posted: 1/10/2016 8:53:31 PM EDT
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Thought I knew a lot about WWII, but found out I didn't know much about Alaska's part in it. So I started digging. Found a good summary with great pics of "the way it was" 1941-1945:
WW II Aleut Relocation 
WW II Aleuts |
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Fascinating... I am reading it now. I'll finish it in a couple days.
At least the author does not equate us with the Nazis and Aleuts as Jews as inferred by the Daily Worker in years past. It was war and they were American Citizens. BTW, my well read Canadian mother in law was shocked that Americans interned the Japanese, too. Apparently that is taught as a unique Canadian war crime in Canada. |
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It isn't in the history books but Japanese soldiers came ashore on Kodiak Island. A friend of mine found a Jap bayonet stuck in the dirt still in the scabbard. The wood handle was rotten a bit but the bayonet was still usable. Looked like it had been found in an attic.
He took it to Anchorage to a WWII convention there was an old Japanese sailor attending. When he saw the bayonet and heard where it was found he relayed the fact that the jap subs couldn't get into the harbor because of the Sub Net but they went ashore in the area where the bayonet was found. I found it to be a very cool story. |
My grandpa and great uncle were at Sitka and (I want to say) Attu as a Chaplain and a baker. I used to know the name of the ship that dropped them off but can't remember off the top of my head  I wish I had gotten the stories when I was younger though. Uncle Red passed when I was 11-12 I think, and my grandpa doesn't remember much these days, being in his 90's.
My bucket list is getting out to those two islands to take photos. I'd love to visit Atku for photos of the B-24 that crash landed there as well. Not much left though. 
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I'd like to get out there too and hike around - supposedly a number of aircraft wrecks to be seen. Buddy has a great one of a P38. I've actually collected a number of photos from WWII, and one collection was from a guy that was stationed out there. Some great photos of the area during WWII, including photos of the bombers in flight and on bomb runs over islands. Little side note... I met Charlton Heston at an American Fighter Aces Association convention and actually got to talk with him a little. When he found out I was from Alaska he told me he was a waist gunner with the 77th Bomb Squadron in the Aleutians in WWII. |