Captain Millard and Captain Hustead, airmen of the 11th USAF, discuss their flight plan and how to make "life as miserable as possible" for the Japanese on Attu and Kiska

Pearl Harbor was not the only attack on American soil during WWII. In 1942, Japanese forces invaded the Aleutian Islands of Alaska and occupied the islands of Attu and Kiska. Because of the remote and harsh conditions of the bitter-cold environment, it took the Allies almost a year to eliminate them.

The first offense was on 3 June 1942 when the Japanese attacked Dutch Harbor. However, the weather was so foggy that the Japanese missed many of their targets. They made another attempt on 4 June and achieved much more damage, and bad weather set in before the Allies could retaliate.

Dutch Harbor after Japanese attack

After the attack, Allied forces established an air base on Adak Island to rid Alaska of the Japanese. Nearly a year later, the Allies finally regained Attu following a fierce Banzai charge. Almost all the Japanese troops were killed and very few were taken prisoner. The Allies quickly planned another attack, this time on Kiska, but when they invaded, they found it was deserted. The Japanese had abandoned the island soon after their great loss on Attu.

Dead Japanese soldiers after their Banzai charge on Attu

Although much of the combat was in the air or on the sea, many soldiers fought hand-to-hand to gain possession of suitable landing ground for supply planes, as the tundra often made any other form of transportation too difficult to be progressive. These circumstances forced the Allies and Japanese to fight for their survival along with the goal of eliminating the other from the islands. Over 1400 Allied servicemen lost their lives in the turmoil of the Aleutian Islands Campaign, and many were buried in the cemeteries at Little Falls and Holtz Bay until they were moved to Anchorage in 1946.

Japanese Attack Aleutian Islands