ALEUTIAN COMBAT ENGINEER IS STILL ATI
WORK, PREPARING DEFENSE FOR NEW THREAT
ANCHORAGE — “Today we
are assembled in front of head
quarters.”
Thus started the entry for May
29, 1943, in the diary of a Japanese
officer who lost his life in the last
engagement of the Aleutian Cam
paign on the Island of Attu.
The text of the diary for that
date is as follows: -
“Today we are assembled in
front of headquarters. The field
hospital took part too. The last
sasault is to be carried out. All
the patients in the hospital were
made to commit suicide. Only 33
years of living and I am to die
here. I have no regrets. Banzai to
the Emperor.
“I am grateful that I have kept
peace of my soul which Enkist be
stowed on me. Goodbye, Gaeko,
my beloved wife, who loved me
to the last. Until we meet again,
grant you God speed, Miseka, who
just became four years old, will
grow up unhindered. I feel sorrv
for you, Fokiko, born February of
this year and will never see your
father.”
Shortly afterwards, 1,000 Ban
zai-dedicated Japanese stormed
from the last line of defense to
attack and die. The desperation
launched attack came very near to
succeeding. The Japanese over
whelmed American outposts and
swarmed up a hill. They came
under the cover of darkness and
a snowstorm.
Their objective was the Amer
ican beachhead at Massacre Bay
beyond the ridge. All that stood
between them and their goal was
a contingent of road-building GI
Engineers.
These managed to throw up an
improvised breastworks of equip
ment and supplies, including cases
of dynamite, and laid down a
withering firepower. The Japanese
first assault was broken and then
the second and last assault of the
Aleutian campaign came to a bit
ter, crushing end.
Within a few hours the Engin
eers were back at their task of
building the road. Under combat
conditions during the preceding 17
days of battle, the Engineers had
built more roads on the island
than their Japanese counterparts
had managed during the 11
months of their stay.
Later the ridge where the attack
was stopped was named, appro
priately enough, “Engineer Hill.”
The entire Aleutian campaign of
World War II has come to be
known as the Engineers’ War, be
cause all the installations on the
Chain had to be built from
scratch under the constant men
ace of Japanese guns, together
with handicaps imposed by gale
like winds, rugged terrain and
over-long supply lines.
The campaign, for all the diffi
culties, was completed with vic
tory for the U. S. within 12 months
after it started. It began on June
3, 1942, when a Japanese task
force launched carrier-bombers to
raid the U. S. Navy base at Dutch
Harbor.
Before the war ended officially
on V-J Day, 1945, the Engineers
had converted the treeless, wind
swept primitive Chain into a vir
tual fortress in one of the most re
markable construction feats in the
history of war.
Seventeen years later, with the
war long since over and the situa
tion vastly changed, the successor
of the Aleutian combat engineer
is still at work in the Aleutians,
updating the nation’s defenses in
the face of new threats.
Today the scene of greatest En
gineer activity is at Shemya Is
land, situated about 60 miles from
Engineer Ridge on Attu. The U. S.
Army Engineer District, Alaska,
is supervising the construction of
an experimental radar station at
Shemya for the Alaskan Com
mand. The project is extensive,
with contracts to date totaling
more than $18,000,000.
During the last six years, the
District constructed an extension
of the famous DEW-Line to loca
tions in the Aleutians Islands, to
complete a radar warning system
against surprise attack.
W S. C. S. of the Method!'*
Church will have their monthly
meeting at the home of Mrs. An
drew Nerland on Friday evening,
at 8 p.m.
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SPIRITUAL
TRUTHS
GLEANED FHOM THE NEWS
Contributed By
NOME GOSPEL HOME
CORYDON, Ind. — Quick ac
tion by a group of Boy Scouts is
credited with saving the life of
Lee Pfund, basketball coach of
Wheaton College. He was critically
injured in an auto crash, and the
Scouts, who were out on a hike,
heard the crash and hastened to
the scene. They applied first aid
immeiately. When the ambulances
arrived, the police stated that
Pfund’s bleeding might have been
fatal without the quick action of
the Boy Scouts.
How important it is to be
equipped and ready to help where
ever we can; ready for any emer
gency. “Be Preared,” the Scout
motto, was put to practice when
the Scouts appeared on the acci
dent scene. Here on this earthly
scene below, we also see many
wrecks, ones who know they need
help. They really need our First
Aid — with emphasis on the word
“FIRST.” First things should be
first, and how important to help
to rescue those “for whom Christ
died.” — Romans 14:15; 1 Cor.
8:11.
Rescue the perishing, Care for the
dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and
the grave;
Plead with them earnestly, Plead
with them gently,
Tell them of Jesus the mighty to
save.
Rescue the perishing, care for the
dying;
Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.
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Moose Wranglers Tag
Calves for Survival Study
FORT RICHARDSON — Air
borne moose wranglers of the
Alaska State Department of Fish
and Game will limber up their
lassos and mount-up in two U. S.
Army H-21 Helicopters this week
for the first moose calf-tagging
project of 1960.
More than 200 moose calves in
the lower Susitna area and Mata
nuska Valley are expected to be
ear tagged dcring the 10 day
program, according to Eli Erick
son, area Fish and Game manage
ment biologist.
“By tagging the young moose
we hope to gain valuable informa
tion about seasonal movement pat
terns, annual calf survival and
yearly ‘kill’ figures,” Erickson
said. “Hunters who bag a tagged
moose are required to return the
tag to us with data concerning
where and when he got the
animal.”
FIREWORKS IN HAVANA
HAVANA, Iff) — Unknown per
sons machine gunned the building
of the pro-government weekly
magazine Bohemia in Havana dur
ing the night, shattering three big
glass sections of wall paneling.
Two night watchmen escaped
injury.
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London Thief Gets Away
With Half-Million In
Jewels from Sofia Loren
LONDON, Wl — Sophia Loren
posted a $56,000 reward in Lon
don tonight for recovery of a jewel
collection stolen from her bed
room Saturday night.
While Scotland Yard combed the
underworld and watched seaports
and airfields, the Italian movie
queen disclosed that much of the
collection, which she valued at
a half million dollars, was un
insured.
She told a news conference she !
had intended to take out insur
ance coverage today.
The chief clue was the discov
ery of her black and gold jewel
case floating in the River Thames.
It held two brooches, one with
the name “Sophia” in jewels and
the other shaped like an orchid.
Neither piece was of major value.
The case was found about 20
miles from the scene of the rob
bery — an English country man
sion where Miss Loren is' living
while she stars in a film, “The
Millionairess.”
Scotland Yard is working on
two theories. One is that the case
was flung from an ocean-bound
ship. The other is that thieves had
intended the case as a decoy while
they disposed of the gems some
where in Britain.
Detectives are looking for links
with thefts from Gregory Peck re
cently, and from Lauren Bacall a
year ago.
JUNEAU AP CORRESPONDENT
TRANSFERRED TO E. COAST
NEW YORK, (J1) — The appoint
ment of William J. Tobin, Asso
ciated Press Correspondent at Ju
neau, as assistant chief of bureau
at Baltimore, was announced to
day by Frank J. Starzel, general
manager of the Associated Press.
Ward T. Sims, night editor in
the Seattle Bureau and a veteran
legislative reporter, was ap
pointed by Starzel to succeed
Tobin.
Tobin, 32, went to Juneau in
1956 to open the bureau, the only
full time wire service bureau in
the capitol. He will leave for his
new assignment June 24.
Japanese Scientists
I Explore Barrow,
Peninsula Area
1 FAIRBANKS—Three Japanese
scientists are in Barrow on a two
week study mission in the Bar
row, Nome and Kotzebue areas.
They are part of a 21-man group
from Meiji University in Tokyo.
Leader of the group at Barrow
is Prof. Misawo Watanabe, and
with him are Takashi Matsude
and Teruzo Kaji. The latter was
! with the Meiji crew which re
cently climbed both peaks of Mt.
McKinley just before the accident
of the John Day party.
While the trio is on the Arc
tic Coast, other groups will be
spending time in Southeastern
Alaska and on the Alaska Penin
sula near Port Moller. Included in
the total of 21 are three movie
cameramen and two newspaper
writers from the Tokyo Yomiuri,
one of the “big three” of Japanese
publications.
Professor Watanabe said that
the University of Alaska had been
most cooperative in assisting the
Meiji group, as had the state gov
ernment in Juneau by making doc
uments and other materials avail
able to them.
The Meiji expedition will end
in early August after four months
of study in Alaska. The various
members of the party, which are
being rotated from Japan at in
tervals, will spend an average of
eight weeks in Alaska.
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