Forgotten Warriors of the Aleutian Campaign

by Jim Rearden

On June 3 and 4, 1942, Japanese carrier planes bombed, and Zero fighters machine-gunned, the U.S. military base at Dutch Harbor, Alaska. On June 7, Japanese troops seized two Aleutian Islands-Attu and Kiska. Read the details of the 15-month Aleutian Campaign in which 144,000 American servicemen fought two enemies-the Japanese and the savage weather.

Genres: History

208 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2005

Reviews

[Bill Pentland · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was loaned to me by a friend a few months ago; I just got around to reading it. This book was about the 4 years campaign in the Aleutian Islands during World War II. It is a collection of recollections of that campaign by the people involved. It had a good description of the Alaskan Scouts, often called Castner's Cutthroats. These were men who were adapted to wilderness life, survival skills, and harsh conditions. One fellow named Bishop was born in Wyoming then moved to Alaska. He spent most of his time between Takotna and McGrath before joining the military at the outbreak of the war. This had meaning to me as I was stationed in that very place between 1969 and 1970, and had been to the tiny village of Takotna several times. McGrath was where we flew into from Anchorage, then to our site via bush pilots.
There were several different descriptions of the same events during the campaign so the story became somewhat repetitive. However, it was, overall, a good depiction of that costly campaign, which the author concluded, was not necessary.