bigpigeon.us webpage WW II - Japan  >North & Central Pacific >  Alaska - North Pacific, updated by RAC 11 Sep 2020.
 In theory, during World War II the island chains in the North Pacific could serve either as a Japanese route for attacks on North America or as an Allied route for attacks on northern Japan.

In practice, vile weather made major military operations in these theater untenable.

Despite the weather, the North Pacific was a conduit for American Lend Lease shipments of military equipment to Russia. (Japan and Russia were not at war with each other.) Such lend-lease shipments were one of the motivations behind the hurried construction of the AlCan Highway in 1942.
The North Pacific
The North Pacific
In 1941, the United States Air Corps sent Colonel Everett Davis to Alaska to plan a system of airfields for use if war with Japan developed. Plans for bases for naval and ground forces were also developed. In particular, Dutch Harbor was chosen as the major forward naval base and Adak as the corresponding forward air base. Colonel Davis became the first commander and later the chief-of-staff of the 11th Air Force, headquartered at Elmendorf Field near Anchorage.

During WW II, the Ladd Field complex of airfields, near Fairbanks, was used by nearly 8,000 aircraft being ferried to Russia for use on the Eastern Front in the War with Germany.
Alaska WW II Military Sites
The major bases for land and air Alaska operations were Fort Richardson and Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage.
In June 1942, as part of the operation that included the Japanese attack on Midway Island 2,000 miles to the south, Japan sent a small naval force to the Aleutian Islands. This force:
  • bombed our military base at Dutch Harbor, near the eastern end of the Aleutian Islands chain. 
  •  occupied Attu and Kiska, two undefended islands in the western portion of the Aleutians.
The Bombing of Dutch Harbor, June 1942
The Bombing of Dutch Harbor, June 1942
The United States responded to the June 1942 Japanese attacks in the Aleutians by increasing Air Force, Navy, and ground forces in Alaska.
  • In May 1943, elements of the United States 7th Infantry Division recaptured Attu after a three-week campaign. We lost 549 dead, including a battalion commander from Pottawattamie County.
  • In August 1943, American and Canadian forces invaded Kiska, only to discover that Kiska had already been evacuated. Nevertheless 92 Allied soldiers and sailors died, from mined waters, booby traps and friendly fire.
The Aleutian Islands
The Aleutian Islands in WW II
Sources for the The North Pacific webpage:
  • The 1943 page header image The Cemetery on Attu photo is courtesy of the World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana.
  • The North Pacific map source is unknown.
  • The Alaska WW II Major Military Sites map is courtesy of the National Parks Service.
  • The source of the The Aleutian Islands in WW II is unknown.
  • The Bombing of Dutch Harbor, June 1942 is courtesy of en.wikipedia.org.
  • The The Death of Colonel Davis map is courtesy of naknekseafood.blogspot.com.

​Pottawattamie County, Iowa Area WW II Dead - Alaska - The North Pacific: 06-01 - North & Central Pacific - North Pacific - Alaska: (five dead, updated 24 Jul 2020)
† Alter, Earl Carlton, SN O-157398, US Naval Aviation, Harrison Co.
Patrol Sqdn. VP-52, Fleet Wing #4, Adak, Alaska NAS; PBY-5A #7271 co-pilot; DNB 18 May 1943 Aleutian Is.; plane lost on patrol, ten died; wreckage & six bodies recovered.
† Jensen, Arthur Orville, SN 37-117-909, USAAF, Pott. Co.
54th Troop Carrier Sqdn., 11th AF; Elmendorf AFB, Anchorage, AK; C-47-DL #41-38635 radio operator; DNB 28 Nov 1942 near Lake Iliamna, Alaska; plane hit hillside in heavy winds returning to base, all eight dead.
Returning from Natnek Air Force Base near King Salmon, wreckage later found.  Jensen's squadron had just begun operations from 11th Air Force Base headquarters at Elmendorf Air Force Base. All on board were killed, including Colonel Everett Davis, former commande of the 11th Air Force. Arthur O. Jensen was my father's second cousin and was born down the road from my boyhood home in Boomer Township. See map below for location of crash site.
† Knutson, Harold Norman, SN 39-092-195, USAAF, Sioux Co.
36th Bomb. Sqdn., 28th Bomb Gp., 11th AF; based at Elmendorf Field, Anchorage; B-17E #41-9146; KIA 28 Aug 1942 Aleutian Is., Alaska; plane disappeared returning from three-plane mission over Kiska Is. led by Col. William O. Eareckson; BNR.
† Meindl, Joseph James, SN 230-946, USCG, Marshall Co.
Coast Guard Cutter USS Clover (WLB-292), stationed in Alaska Territory; DNB 18/19 May 1944, Dry Bay, Alaska panhandle; seven-man USCGC Clover boat crew drowned in the breakers entering Dry Bay, the Alsek River mouth, while going to the aid of two stranded fishing vessels; BNR
† Siddens, Jack Kenneth, SN O-329806, US Army, Pott. Co.
C.O. 3rd Bn., 17th Inf. Regt., 7th Inf. Div.; KIA 29 May 1943, Attu, Aleutian Is., Alaska; Battle of Attu.
Alaska
The Deaths of Colonel Davis and Private Jensen