Alaska Eskimo Scouts Maintain
Constant Vigil for Signs of War
(As the New York Times Sees It) <$
“Along the vast icy frontier be
tween Alaska and Soviet Siberia
a line of Eskimo scouts keeps a
vigil for signs of war.
• In their natural environment of
trackless snow and freezing seas,
the First and Second Scout Battal
ions of the Alaska National Guard
are matchless sentries. They con
tinually pour valuable informa
tion into the Army’s intelligence
network.
Like the Guardsmen back in
the States, the Eskimo scouts get*
paid for 48 drills a year. But they
are always on active duty. Like,
the far-flung radar stations on the
Arctic Ocean and along Bering
Strait, they are on watch 24 hours
a day.
The Eskimo scouts go about
their normal business of fishing,
trapping, hunting or more prosaic
jobs, but they watch while they
work.
Every aircraft, every ship, ev
ery unusual activity of man or
machine is reported. For the Uni
ted States now regards the polar
region as the inevitable route of
attack if Russia precipitates World
War m.
Here in Fort Richardson the
visitor gets an idea of the caliber
of those who man this unique in
telligence system. Many of the
scout battalions are attending a
training school here. The United
States Army does not have the
temerity to teach these men scout
ing. They could give lessons in
that.
The men come here to learn
what the Army wants. They are
instructed in techniques of con
veying information. They learn
such things as when they should
deliver oral and when written
messages. Should they have a
scheduled messenger service? Or
does the mission require a special
messenger, or a double messenger
so that one can get away if the
pair is ambushed?
These men, with Army uni
forms and sergeants’ stripes, with
Mongoloid faces and mostly
speaking with an accent, will go
back to their villages to instruct
the other men of the scout battal
ions.
In certain places, where the
situation requires it, they serve
►>-—-—
regular watches to maintain 24
hour observation posts,
j Otherwise the men merely go
about their daily work and report
what they see or hear. If they
hear an airplane motor at night
they report through the nearest
radio station. They might report
through the stations of the Civil
Aeronautics Administration, the
Alaska Native Service, the Ground
Observation Corps, or the net
work of the super-secret Army
Security Agency.
There are only 1,200 men in the
two battalions. They are scattered
in small units all the way from
Barter Island near the Arctic
Ocean boundary with ~ Alaska,
around on Seward Peninsula, and
down into the Pacific through the
Aleutians into the Alexander
Archipelago fringing the Canadi
an boundary in the south.
Their mission is to keep the
coastal areas under constant sur
veillance. They also assist in
emergency rescue missions "and
help the Army in the development
of arctic and subarctic clothing,
survival in the arctic, and tactics
in the polar area.
There are two other battalions
in the Alaska National Guard, the
207th Infantry, with headquarters
at Anchorage, and the 208th at
Juneau. In the event of war, these
units would be called into active
service and fight like other infan
try outfits.
The First Scout Battalion with
headquarters at Nome and the
Second with its base at Bethel,
also would be called into active
service, but with a difference. The
men would remain in their native
villages, carrying on their intelli
gence mission as they do now.
—By Anthony Leviero
ATTENTION PIONEER LADIES
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BERING SEA CLUB I
Democrat Senators Say
Ground Forces Cutbacks
Should Be Delayed
WASHINGTON, UR — Demo
cratic senators suggested Tuesday
that the administration delay
planned cutbacks in the Marine
Corps and Army ground forces
until tension lessens in the For
mosa area.
Sens. Stennis (D-Miss) and Rob
ertson (D-VA) expressed this view
at a public hearing by a Senate
Appropriations subcommittee on
the 35 - billion - dollar defense
money bill for the next fiscal
year, beginning July 1.
Secretary of the Navy Thomas
was in the witness chair. He had
told the senators the $8,918,000,
000 proposed for the Navy and
Marine Corps will provide “a
force which can withstand the
initial onslaught (of an enemy)
and strike back with weight and
precision.”
“We are keeping a very strong
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country,” Thomas said.
Stennis noted the Marine Corps
plans a cutback of 19,000 officers
and men, reducing its force to
about 193,000.
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