Theobald, Admiral “Fuzzy” Theobald, knew that two Japanese attack forces steamed north through the Pacific in late May, headed for Alaska. Bull Halsey had sent him north to stop them. He deployed his few ships in an arc across the water to face them, but the arc covered way too many miles of water. The …
Category Archives: The Aleutians
Sucker Punch
Thousand-mile Arc A sucker punch with many moving parts, the Japanese plan for June 1942 aimed simultaneously at Midway Island in the South Pacific and at the Aleutians in the North Pacific. The Japanese hoped to ambush the American carrier fleet at Midway, and they wanted a foothold in the Aleutians. In Alaska they would …
Thousand-mile Arc
A thousand-mile arc, Alaska’s Aleutian Islands extend across the North Pacific; beginning in Alaska; ending perilously close to Japan. The thousand-mile chain offered Japan a military route to the North American Continent and concerned American leaders knew they couldn’t defend against that route; couldn’t get enough men, machines and material from the Lower 48 to …
Comeal Andrews Died in the Aleutians
Comeal Andrews of the 93rd obsessed his grandniece, Judith Baker. From her much loved Grandfather, she heard about this brother of his all of her life. She knew he served in World War II and lost his life. But that’s all she knew. Judith contacted researcher Chris through our website https://www.93regimentalcan.com and Chris …
War Machine Makes it Real
The war machine, the Japanese advance across the Pacific inspired the Alaska Highway Project. But the soldiers and civilians who went north to build the Highway, left the rolling catastrophe behind, struggled to keep up with news of the war. If few understood the complex geography of the Pacific, in early 1942 everybody understood …
WWII killed women too.
WWII killed women, especially nurses, right along with men—an equal opportunity disaster. The War killed Ruth Gardiner. Ruth entered the world in 1914 in Calgary, Alberta; came with her parents to Eastport, Idaho at age three. The Gardiners wandered a bit through the lower 48—Noyes, Minnesota then Pennsylvania. Twenty-three old Ruth trained as a …
From the Subarctic North to Burma and India
Gouging a Road through Yukon Clyde S. Deal came to te subarctic north to join the 93rd Engineering Regiment in Yukon in April 1942. Through the summer he helped build the supply road from Carcross to Johnson’s Crossing on the Teslin River, learned to deal with muskeg and airplane sized mosquitoes. Through the late summer …
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The Devil’s Brigade
In 1943 the Americans took back Attu, drove the Japanese to suicide. They targeted Kiska next, totally unaware that in response to the Attu assault, the Japanese had abandoned the second island. According to Stan Cohen’s book, The Forgotten War Vol. 2, Americans had intercepted the evacuation order, but Admiral Kincaid didn’t believe it. On …
Japanese Occupation
At the end of June 1942, the Japanese occupied American Territory at Kiska and Attu. Unacceptable. The Japanese had assaulted the American Naval base at Dutch Harbor then occupied the two American Islands in the Aleutians. At the same time, they laid a trap for the United States Navy at Midway and the trap backfired. …
Americans Reacted
Millions of frightened and angry Americans had known nothing of the Aleutians or a possible threat to America’s interests there—until an actual threat materialized, seemingly out of nowhere. The land route to Alaska vaulted onto front pages and into newsreels, and the spotlight of public attention suddenly came to focus on the Alcan Highway Project—except …