Aleutian Islands Veterans of World War II

Their stories and memories

Do you know that:

Japan captured two of the Aleutian Islands during World War II and 550 American lives were lost when the Allies later defeated the enemy?
at the height of the war, 94,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen served in the Aleutians?
getting mail was more important to Aleutian GIs than getting a good meal?
Americans’ worst enemy was not the Japanese but the weather?
if a plane ditched in the ocean near the Aleutians, crewmembers could only survive 10 or 15 minutes in the ocean if there was no life raft?

Quotes from Aleutian veterans:

“Well, you know, we were all young bucks and we were indestructible—everybody felt that way … Somebody else [might die, but] it won’t be me, you know.”

“When we had a mission … they had us up at 2:00 in the morning [to get planes ready] and man, I tell you some mornings it was so stinking cold and we didn’t have any face masks. You walk down … maybe a fifteen-minute walk—I tell you, halfway down, your tears come out of your eyes and they freeze on your cheek, it was so cold.”

“We had one full day of sunshine here a while ago. It’s the first [clear] day since I’ve been here. … We had about twenty war correspondents here for two days last week and all the two days we had pretty good weather. The day after they left we had the bad storm. I wish some time when we have important visitors they would get to see some of the real weather we have.”

These quotes are from the book Awaiting the Sun: WWII Veterans Remember the Aleutians. This book provides a close-up and personal view of what life was really like for GIs there, reflecting the highs and lows of long tours of duty far from home, in miserable weather. The book will be of value to the relatives of Aleutian vets, those interested in World War II, and to historians.

Awaiting the Sun was published by Schiffer Publishing’s military division. It was a five-year project by Viet Nam veteran Bil Paul, whose father served in the navy on Adak Island. The stories and memories of 190 Aleutian veterans gleaned from online interviews and other sources were used in the book, along with 38 photographs, many previously unpublished. Numerous artistic and candid cartoons from an army newspaper on Adak Island add to the depiction of military life. It’s hardbound, with 230 pages, and measures 6 by 9 inches.

The book’s chapters:

Why the Aleutians?
The Japanese Draw First Blood at Dutch Harbor
Weathering the Weather
Ten Ways of Preparing Spam
Tent Living in the Great Outdoors
Flyboys, Bad Weather, and Flamboyance
The Welcoming Committee Visits Kiska and Attu
Come Payday, All-Night Poker Games
Whaddaya Have to Do to Get a Drink?
The Navy Often Had It Better
Blood in the Snow (which describes the brutal battle for Attu)
Enlisted Men Must Salute First
Aboard Ship in Often-Rough Seas
Working in (or for the) General
Male Call
Censorship and Secrecy to an Extreme
Taking the War to the Japanese Northern Islands
Friendships and Pinups Substituted for the Genuine Article
For some, the Aleutian Stare
Blacks and Jews Apart
Finding Things Do
After the A-Bomb, a Hurry to Leave
The Aleutians Today: Bullets for Caribou

Endnotes, a bibliography and an index are included.

Reviews from readers:

“Awaiting the Sun” takes the reader back to that conflict in Alaska. While reading the different soldier accounts you can almost feel the cold rain hitting your face [and] the physical and emotional hardships that our men had to endure during the battles.

[This book’s] descriptions are not from a historical, critical-decisions point of view but of the individual soldier/officer just trying to get by. I'll admit that I am more than a little interested in this topic since my father was stationed on Attu Island in the USAAF for one year.

I am not a history buff in particular, but I love documentaries in any form – and I've added Awaiting the Sun to my list of faves! This is a book that brings together diary entries, letters, newspaper articles, oral history narratives, and other first-person and contemporaneous accounts of the enlisted men serving in the Aleutian Islands during WWII. I couldn't put it down! It gives … the reader an opportunity to picture themselves there and relate to WWII in a personal way.

Book review: The Aleutian War, captured in the words of those who served on the islands

By Nancy Lord (Anchorage Daily News, Anchorage, Alaska)

August 19, 2023

“Awaiting the Sun: WWII Veterans Remember the Aleutians”

Many Americans, even today, don’t realize the extent to which Alaska was involved in World War II, and that two islands in the Aleutians were invaded and occupied by Japanese forces. Author Bil Paul, whose father served as a Navy communications officer on Adak Island, has extensively researched personal accounts of veterans from the islands. As the last of them depart this earth, Awaiting the Sun is a timely compendium of on-the-ground experiences by which to remember those young men and the price of war.

There have been numerous previous histories of the Aleutians campaign, the best-known of which is probably Brian Garfield’s The Thousand-Mile War from 1982. The value of [Awaiting the Sun] lies in its very personal nature; Paul relates the war experience primarily in the words of its participants, through their letters home, diaries, memoirs, interviews, and oral histories. He drew from 290 sources, many of them located on the internet. One of his sources was his own father, who died before Paul began the project but whose letters home are quoted throughout.

… The drama of war is expected, but perhaps the greatest value of “Awaiting the Sun” is its documentation of ordinary life at the various island bases. The young men were, for example, inventive in finding comfort in a hostile environment and in entertaining themselves. They melted snow in their metal helmets to wash with, built electrified traps to electrocute rats, made up names for fox trails, planted trees, and made drinkable alcohol out of torpedo fuel and anti-icing fluid as well as distilling “tundra juice” from potatoes and grape jelly.

… Besides the first-person accounts and some of the author’s own exposition to provide needed context, Awaiting the Sun includes photographs, cartoons from the Adakian Army newsletter (edited by Dashiell Hammett), and bits of poetry. Altogether it’s an important contribution to our understanding of a time and place now being lost to history, and to honoring those who served not just in a deadly war but in the challenging Aleutian environment.

Where to find the book

Awaiting the Sun is available from many online book retailers such as Amazon, and directly from the publisher at:

https://schifferbooks.com/products/awaiting-the-sun-wwii-veterans-remember-the-aleutians

For more information or inquiries about author appearances, contact author Bil Paul at [email protected].