Gilbert J Endecavageh was born on 19 April 1920 to Henry and Lulu Endecavageh of Cook County Illinois. Henry was born in Germany and Lulu in Illinois. According to the 1940 US Census Henry was a Supervisor with the Work Progress Administration Water Works. Gilbert completed 4 years of high school. Gilbert had two older brothers, two older sisters and a younger sister.

Gilbert J Endecavageh enlisted in the US Army on 9 October 1942 in Chicago, Illinois.

Private First Class (PFC) Gilbert J Endecavageh was assigned to I (Item Company) 3rd Battalion 17th Infantry (3-17 IN) 7th Infantry Division (7th ID) at the time of his death. The 7th ID was training in the Mojave Desert in 1942 in preparation for combat as a Motorized Infantry Division to deploy to North Africa. The 7th ID was tasked in March 1943 to be the assault element to retake Attu Island, Alaska from the Japanese Army.

Attu and Kiska Islands are part of the Aleutian Chain in Alaska and had been seized by Imperial Japanese Forces on 6 June 1942 as part of large Japanese Naval Offensive. There was no opposition to either landing. A small US Navy Weather Reporting Station on Kiska consisting of 10 personnel was captured and the US Navy sailors were sent to Japan as prisoners of war. The Island of Attu was captured by a Japanese Army Infantry battalion. Attu village at the time consisted of 43 Aleuts (Unanagin) and a female schoolteacher and her husband. The Japanese later transported the Aleuts as prisoners to Japan. The schoolteacher Etta Jones was also transported to Japan as a prisoner. Etta’s husband Foster Jones was executed by the Japanese on 6 June 1942 and buried by the Attu Villagers at the Russian Orthodox Church graveyard. At the end of the war 25 of the original 43 Aleuts from Attu were repatriated to the US. The remaining 18 died of disease and malnutrition in Japan.

On 11 May 1943 the 7th ID made three landings on Attu the main effort at Massacre Bay (Southern Force), a supporting effort at Red Beach north of Holtz Bay (Northern Force) and another supporting effort at Austin Cove by the 7th ID Provisional Scout Company. PFC Gilbert J Endecavageh was assigned to 3-17IN and landed in Massacre Bay on 11 May 1943 as part of the main effort in Massacre Valley. PFC Endecavageh fought up Massacre Valley and was killed on 23 May 1943, on the 12th day of battle for Attu. The date of PFC Endecavageh’s death and casualty report is consistent with 3-17IN attack into Jim Fish Valley on 23 May 1943 toward Chicagof harbor and Attu Village, the Japanese last remaining strong point on Attu. The battle of Attu lasted from 11 May to 29 May 1943. The original plan called for a three to four-day operation. The battle took 18 days and was ended in a climatic Banzai charge led by the Japanese Commander COL Yamazaki out of Chicagof Harbor/ Attu Village area. PFC Endecavageh Battalion took heavy casualties in the assault up Massacre Valley and during the final Banzai charge of the remaining Japanese Soldiers on 29 May 1943.

PFC Gilbert J Endecavageh was killed on 23 May 1943 on Attu Island, Alaska Territory. PFC Endecavageh is buried at the Sitka National Cemetery, Sitka Alaska. PFC Endecavageh was originally interned at the Little Falls Cemetery on Attu in May of 1943 and was later disinterred with all the other US Military and known Japanese WW II casualties. PFC Endecavageh was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal. PFC Endecavageh would have qualified for the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) for his actions on Attu, but he was killed in action prior to the issue of the award in November of 1943.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

SOURCES:

https://search.ancestryinstitution.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8939&h=4841775&tid=&pid=&queryId=b709b25632ac88a424b39f5e0e313db5&usePUB=true&_phsrc=OtU255&_phstart=successSource

https://search.ancestryinstitution.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2545&h=1200962&tid=&pid=&queryId=b709b25632ac88a424b39f5e0e313db5&usePUB=true&_phsrc=OtU258&_phstart=successSource

https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/M-T0627-00780-00111?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=b709b25632ac88a424b39f5e0e313db5&usePUB=true&_phsrc=OtU260&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=140621337

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https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/96972/Jim-Fish-Valley.htm

https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/96971/Chichagof-Harbor.htm

Attu: The Forgotten Battle by John Haile Cole US National Park Service 2017 US Government Printing Office