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 didn’t believe it; and that man, Admiral Kincaid, was the boss.
So, on August 15, 1943, thirty thousand Americans, including Mike Gay’s dad, and five thousand Canadians plowed through the pounding North Pacific surf onto Kiska.
In the confusion on the beach, some of the Allied troops took friendly fire. And the departing Japanese had booby trapped everything in sight. Initial reports from the island, especially casualty reports, looked to Kincaid exactly like the tough battle he expected.
Mike Gay’s dad “served with the First Special Service Force.” Half Americans and half Canadians, these soldiers had “trained in Montana at mountain climbing, snow skiing, hand to hand combat, tactics, parachute jumping and demolition. They trained outdoors all week long, with no tents and extremely low temperatures.
The First Special Service Force went ashore on Kiska at night in rubber boats. “The Japs had pulled out…” But they couldn’t know that. They climbed short cliffs and moved inland over cold wet rocks through heavy fog. In the confusion they took fire that killed and wounded some of them. But that turned out to be friendly fire.
Eventually the Allied soldiers sorted things out and the firing stopped. But they remained on the empty, miserable island for several days, short of rations. They resorted to untwisted segments of rope, bent safety pins (from ammo bandoliers) as fishing gear; baited the hooks with the red strips from cigarette packs; and caught small trout from tiny streams.
