Mike Gay’s dad landed on Kiska at night. His First Special Service Force unit found plenty of misery—but no Japanese soldiers. Link to another story “Retaking the Islands” In response to their disaster on Attu, the Japanese had abandoned Kiska. Americans had even intercepted and decrypted the evacuation order, but one man on the ground …
Category Archives: Alaska in WWII
Defending Alaska
Defending Alaska? In the runup to WWII some senior officers in the United States Army thought a lot about that potential problem. Most did not. In August1941 they called the Alaska National Guard to active duty and moved most of it out of Alaska. Territorial Governor Earnest Gruening had seen that coming and he urged …
Retaking the Islands
Retaking Kiska and Attu presented a daunting challenge, but America couldn’t leave the islands to the Japanese. In May 1943 the US Army’s 17th Infantry, sailed north from California, and on May 11, supported by Castner’s Cutthroats, Canadian recon units and the Canadian Air Force, they stormed ashore into a frigid hell. The Japanese had …
Castner’s Cutthroats
Castner’s Cutthroats, a platoon of unique soldiers commanded by Colonel Lawrence V. Castner, launched into subarctic history shortly after the Japanese occupied Kiska and Attu in June 1942. Relentless cold, impenetrable fog and endless hurricane force winds called “williwaws” threatened the Japanese survival on their two captured islands far more than the Americans. The Americans, …
Lieutenants
Lieutenants? Where would the army be without them? In June 1942 Lt. Darrel M. Schumacher of the 340th Engineering Regiment cooled his heels in Skagway. He and his men would walk to the Teslin River as soon as the 93rd built them a trail. In the meantime, they waited. Then the Japanese bombed the American …
What Next?
What next? After attacking Dutch Harbor and occupying two islands, where would the Japanese War machine turn up next? The men who went north to build the Alaska Highway in 1942, left the rolling catastrophe of War with Japan behind. struggled to keep up with news of the war. But everyone understood one thing. The …
Mortal Enemies
Mortal Enemies struggled with weather and confusion in the Aleutians in June. Task Force 1 had bombed Dutch Harbor, not once, but twice. But the Americans had yet to hear from Task force 2. Link to another story “Icy Fog Defended Dutch Harbor” Admiral Hosogaya’s task force still lurked somewhere west of Task Force 1 …
Admiral Yamamoto’s Plan
Admiral Yamamoto’s plan for June 1942 had more moving parts and more targets than just the Aleutians. Even as his two task forces sailed through the North Pacific to attack Dutch Harbor and occupy Kiska and Adak—to establish a toe hold on the American continent, the Admiral sent his main carrier force to Midway Island …
Petty Officer Koga
Petty Officer Koga looked desperately for a place to get his zero on the ground, and just a few miles from Dutch Harbor he found the island of Akutan. Ironically his landing on Akutan may have turned Dutch Harbor into a crucial American victory. Aerial Combat with Japan in 1942 meant fighting Japan’s premier warplane, …
Icy Fog Defended Dutch Harbor
Icy fog, on June 3, had defended Dutch Harbor more effectively than the American Navy’s pilots and sailors. Half of the Japanese pilots couldn’t find the base. And if icy fog helped the Americans, luck helped even more. Knowing little about the layout of the base, Japanese pilots engaged targets at random. Flames and billowing …