Sasser's outfit, the 50th Engineers, were builders, not fighters. Most of the men -- and there weren't a lot of them -- were what the Army calls noncombatants. Their job was to make roads and move supplies to the soldiers on the front lines. The strung-out line of supply tents was not fortified. The soldiers had rifles, not machine guns.
He struggled into his perpetually damp leather boots -- "Not the right attire" for the snow and mud of Alaska, he said -- grabbed his helmet and M-1 rifle, went to an embankment created when the road was pushed through a few days earlier and peered over the side.
"The Japanese were moving up the hill," he said. "The ravines were full of them" in numbers that far exceeded the Americans at the outpost.
He watched the mass of determined, desperate men swarm toward him in an action no U.S. soldier had faced since the War of 1812 -- a bayonet charge by an enemy invader on American soil.
Thus began the Battle of Engineer Hill, the last battle between warring nations to be fought in North America.
In light of this epic series of events, my hat is off to these boys. Glad Anchorage Daily News enlightened me. :thumbsup:
I wish I were back "home" too....I think PBS did a program on this last year....the conditions that these guys had to endure was unimaginable,I
was in awe of the fortitude and endurance required....it was a MAGNIFICENT effort.
t
homeagain wrote: I wish I were back "home" too....I think PBS did a program on this last year....the conditions that these guys had to endure was unimaginable,I
was in awe of the fortitude and endurance required....it was a MAGNIFICENT effort.
Right on homeagain, I totally agree. As for PBS doing a special, I haven't had regular t.v in years, so I'm out of that loop.
Mtn Gramma wrote:
Only one, Attu, had a village. The citizens, mostly Aleut Natives, were sent to internment camps in Japan.
I wonder whatever happened to these POW's.
Thanks for posting this, Jekyll. I learned something today.
It's a wonder about the POW's, thanks for highlighting that. There's prolly more info on that throughout the webs. Either way, no worries Mtn Granny, I like to learn this stuff too.
My curiosity got the better of me, I emailed the author, and got this prompt reply:
We've written extensively about the Attuans, including an interview with the last one who could still speak last year, Nick Golodoff. About half returned to the US and were sent to different villages. Attu was never resettled. A Coast Guard station closed there in 2010 and the island has been uninhabited since then.
Thanks for reading,
MD
Google Nick Golodoff (who passed away in February of this year) and you'll find all sorts of info. Quite the story.
Mtn Gramma wrote: My curiosity got the better of me, I emailed the author, and got this prompt reply:
We've written extensively about the Attuans, including an interview with the last one who could still speak last year, Nick Golodoff. About half returned to the US and were sent to different villages. Attu was never resettled. A Coast Guard station closed there in 2010 and the island has been uninhabited since then.
Thanks for reading,
MD
Google Nick Golodoff (who passed away in February of this year) and you'll find all sorts of info. Quite the story.
