Alaska photos from World War 2 (Yakutat: live, cost, military)

[Ketan1234]

Hi!

I have a couple of nice slides taken at Ankau Creek in Yakutat during the war by my mom's first husband. I can email them to anyone who's interested:

http://timelifeblog.files.wordpress.....jpg%3Fw%3D883

[notoriouskelly]

Wild

[Лютый]

Originally Posted by Ketan1234

Hi!

I have a couple of nice slides taken at Ankau Creek in Yakutat during the war by my mom's first husband. I can email them to anyone who's interested:

Can't you to publish this stuff here? Maybe the fine historical reporting will turn out.

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by Ketan1234

Hi!

I have a couple of nice slides taken at Ankau Creek in Yakutat during the war by my mom's first husband. I can email them to anyone who's interested:

Well that is an interesting photo, but I doubt it is Yakutat (Unless they had friendly fire), there wasn't any shelling or battles fought there. It looks more like a photo from the fighting in the Aleutians like on Attu Island where thousands of Japanese and Americans were killed from shelling and the muskeg around the boots looks like it is from that area as well. A friend of mine while at the Coast Guard Loran Station there found Japanese boot on one of the ridges there where the owners foot was still inside. Appears that the soldier was on the ridge and was blown apart and the boot was buried until he saw the heel sticking out of the ground.


Was you mom's husband stationed out on the Aleutian Islands here in Alaska?

[Frostnip]

Here is the actual source of this photo.
Aleutian Islands World War II, 1943 | LIFE.com

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by Frostnip

Here is the actual source of this photo.
Aleutian Islands World War II, 1943 | LIFE.com

Hadn't seen that photo before, but it just looked like it was from there and not Southeast Alaska, where there was fear of an attack, but they never happened. After going to that Life Page, it is really amazing how many of those photos that haven't really been seen before of the war here in Alaska.

The Aleutian battles were the forerunner to what America was going to deal with in the South Pacfic durning the war there.

Many of the lessens learned were from Attu where it was the real first Island battleground for the US Military to remove the Japanese. They made a lot of mistakes and cost a lot of American lives, in a bunch of ways. Improper clothing was a real big issue, the troops were dressed for desert warfare and not a wet winter, trenchfoot and frostbite were almost as bad as the battles.

Attu at the end of the Aleutians, is about 35 miles from where I am at now on the island of Shemya, on a clear day, you can see the mountains covered in snow. After the Japanese where driven off, the US built a fairly large base there, and eventually abandoned it. But the Coast Guard had a loran station there for years and I got to go there in the mid 1970's for a few days to help replace a generator.

All the buildings that were there were falling down then, and I think many were removed since then.

But the fighting was Brutal, they were going to attack Kiska next, but the Japanese pulled all their troops off at the last minute under the Navy's nose, so when they started to attack there, they shelled for a few days and they landed to only be greeted by a couple of dogs. Something like 60 soldiers were killed or injuried by friendly fire from shooting at each other in the mountain fog. Many of the troops had just liberated Attu, and had fought the Japanese there under the same conditions with high losses.