bashfulbrother
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My Father fought in the Aleutian Island Campaign in WW2.
He was a mess sergeant and was present at Dutch Harbor on June 3rd. This was the start of the Midway Battle Campaign by the Japanese. He said that they came in on June 2 at night and in the morning "they had bombs for breatkfast".
The Japanese had gone up the chain of islands during the early part of 1942 knowing that they would soon begin the Midway battles. They placed snipers on the islands, gave them food (basket of dried fish, basket of rice), then told them to find a hole and when the action started they were to go to work.
My dad said that he would always feed his men before daylight so that the bombers wouldn't be able to take out a lot of the guys.
As the Campaign moved on the snipers had run out of food and were starving. He said that every so often they would catch one of these snipers going through to chow lines as they couldn't take the smell of the food.
He told us that on Attu, the Japanese earlier in 42 had built a sub bay and a landing strip for bombers. When the US finally landed on the island it was quite bloody. He told me how they had surrounded a group of Japanese soldiers, 27 of them, and rather than surrender they all committed suicide.
Most people don't know about the Aleutian Islands Campaign. But the Japs at one time were very close to American Mainland.
He was a mess sergeant and was present at Dutch Harbor on June 3rd. This was the start of the Midway Battle Campaign by the Japanese. He said that they came in on June 2 at night and in the morning "they had bombs for breatkfast".
The Japanese had gone up the chain of islands during the early part of 1942 knowing that they would soon begin the Midway battles. They placed snipers on the islands, gave them food (basket of dried fish, basket of rice), then told them to find a hole and when the action started they were to go to work.
My dad said that he would always feed his men before daylight so that the bombers wouldn't be able to take out a lot of the guys.
As the Campaign moved on the snipers had run out of food and were starving. He said that every so often they would catch one of these snipers going through to chow lines as they couldn't take the smell of the food.
He told us that on Attu, the Japanese earlier in 42 had built a sub bay and a landing strip for bombers. When the US finally landed on the island it was quite bloody. He told me how they had surrounded a group of Japanese soldiers, 27 of them, and rather than surrender they all committed suicide.
Most people don't know about the Aleutian Islands Campaign. But the Japs at one time were very close to American Mainland.