The Aleutian Campaign: America's Forgotten Battlefield

When people think of World War II in America, they think of Pearl Harbor or the home front. They don't think of Alaska. But in 1942, the Japanese invaded the Aleutian Islands. It was the only occupation of American soil during the war. The Japanese took Attu and Kiska, remote islands at the end of the Aleutian chain. The weather there is brutal. Fog, wind, freezing temperatures. The Americans launched a campaign to retake them. The Battle of Attu in May 1943 was one of the bloodiest of the Pacific war, proportionally. Over 2,500 Japanese and 550 Americans died. When the Americans retook Kiska, they found the Japanese had evacuated. The Aleutian campaign was overshadowed by the larger battles in the Pacific. But for the soldiers who fought there, it was no less real. They called it the forgotten war. The conditions were as bad as anywhere. Men froze, developed trench foot, suffered from what they called Aleutian fever, a combination of exhaustion and depression. The campaign also had a dark side. The American government evacuated the native Aleut population from the islands, putting them in camps where many died. It's a piece of history that deserves to be remembered.