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4.4.9.wavAfter the Aleutian invasion, Alaska governor Ernest Gruening organized a force of local Alaskans called the Alaska Territorial Guard to help patrol the vast coastline and territory of Alaska. The force was made up largely of Alaskan Natives, who served without pay. Between 1942 and 1947, over 6,000 men aged 12 to 80 served in the force, which was also known as the Eskimo Scouts. The ATG brought together members of all Alaska's Native groups into a common effort.
The Alaskan Natives most affected by the war were the Aleuts. 43 Aleuts were captured at Attu and taken to prison camps in Japan, where 22 of them died. The Attu village was never re-settled.
The U.S. military decided to forcibly evacuate the remaining Aleut population of the islands, which were now a war zone. The evacuation was hasty. Nobody was allowed to bring more than one suitcase. To prevent their possible use by the Japanese, troops set fire to the villages and everything left behind.
Aleut Family at Interment Camp in Southeast Alaska
In total, 881 Aleuts from nine villages were forcibly relocated to internment camps in Southeast Alaska, where they were forced to remain throughout the war. Deplorable conditions existed in the camps. Some of the wooden buildings were so rotten people actually fell through the floor. Small 100-square-foot rooms housed up to a dozen people. Conditions were unsanitary, with inadequate bathrooms, contaminated drinking water, and little food.
"They had little regard for the people," remembers Anna Philemonoff, whose sister and both grandmothers died during internment. "It was almost like we were unimportant, like our lives didn't matter." The Aleut internment showed a clear racial bias. White Americans would never have been forced to live in similar conditions.
Over ten percent of the Aleuts died during their internment, and the rest received scars that they would have to bear for the rest of their lives. Nearly two years after the war ended, they were allowed to return to what remained of their villages.
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