[Wiggins]

Yea, I know I was thinking about Alaska and forgetting about it not being a state back then.

[PAR35]

There wasn’t anything in Alaska that could have helped the Philippines at that point. You could ship to Alaska and then re-ship, but that would take even longer. So if you measure from Alaska going that way, you need to measure from Iceland going to Russia to keep it apples and apples.

[antidisestablishment]

You need to read The Thousand Mile War. Alaska was not only "not a state;" it was uninhabitable wilderness. It's strategic importance was so significant, however, that it was truly one of the main reasons we won the war in the Pacific.

The book reads like a novel, but it is very accurate and is should be included in every military library as it gives a new understanding to the fog of war. It's a damned shame more folks don't know anything about the Aleutian campaign.