Posted on 11/07/2009 5:41:24 AM PST by Kaslin
Never heard that one before in regards to Attu. There wouldn't have been any pilots there anyway, since construction of a runway didn't begin until the island was secure. There was, however, such an occurrence on Iwo Jima.
I can appreciate the weather you folks have to endure. Been in howling -40 conditions at the top of mountains earlier on in life. Perhaps that windsock becomes heavy as a chain at times!
Stay warm.
Even if the Japanese had taken the entire Aleutian Chain & gotten ashore in Alaska, I doubt that they could have accomplished anything. There were few roads suitable for moving inland or down the coast. Part of the campaign to defend Alaska involved a joint US-Canadian highway construction project that would allow defenders to move up supplies & men.
I think that the Japanese move into the western Aleutians was mostly defensive. They were well aware that the US was planning to sage long-range bombing raids against Japan from these islands. As it turned out the B29 raids came from China, then Guam & Tinian. There wasn’t any need to fight the elements in Alaska. We’d already lost so many aircraft up there.
I shook his hand, and thanked him for his service. He was still a spry old gentleman. :-)
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