Alaska
Alaska Mainland
bigpigeon.us webpage WWII - Japan > North Pacific  > Alaska, updated by RAC 18 May 2022.

Despite the weather, the North Pacific was a conduit for American Lend Lease shipments of military equipment to the Soviet Union. (Japan and the Soviet Union were not at war with each other.) 

​Such lend-lease shipments were one of the motivations behind the hurried 1942 construction of the 1,400-mile AlCan Highway  connecting the railhead at Dawson Creek, British Columbia with the Fairbanks, Alaska area.
The AlCan Highway
The Alcan Highway - Constructed 1942
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 naval and ground force bases 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.
As part of the Japanese June 1942 operation that included the attack on Midway Island 2,000 miles to the south, Japan sent a 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 United States responded by increasing the Air Force, Navy, and ground forces asssigned to Alaska.  Flying in nasty, unpredicatable weather, many aircraft were lost.
The Bombing of Dutch Harbor, June 1942
The Bombing of Dutch Harbor, June 1942
On 26 March 1943, equally matched US Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy cruiser-destroyer forces fought west of Attu Island in the Battle of the Komandorski Islands. Battle results were inconclusive, no vessels were sunk, but the Japanese withdrew and thereafter supplied their forces on Attu and Kiska by submarine. Time was running out for the Japanese on Attu and Kiska.
Location of the Battle of the Komandorski Islands
Location of the Battle of the Komandorski Islands
Sources for the The North Pacific webpage:
  • The Alaska Mainland map in the page header is courtesy of naknekseafood.blogspot.com.
  • The North Pacific map source is unknown.
  • The AlCan Highway - Constructed 1942 map is courtesy of http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CjPJcnuJ8fs/VBzq2GmZKTI/AAAAAAAAHUM/hPKix_FFoUU/s1600/map05.gif.
  • The Alaska WW II Major Military Sites map is courtesy of the National Parks Service.
  • The Bombing of Dutch Harbor, June 1942 is courtesy of en.wikipedia.org.
  • The Location of the Battle of the Komandorski Islands map is courtesy of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Komandorski_Islands.
​
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - The North Pacific: 07-01 - North Pacific > Alaska: (four dead, updated 2 Oct 2021)
† Alter, Earl Carlton, SN O-157398, US Naval Aviation, Harrison Co.
  • Naval Air Patrol Sqdn. VP-52, Fleet Wing #4; based at Adak NAS, Aleutian Is., Alaska Territory; Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina BuNo 07271 co-pilot; DNB 18 May 1943 Aleutian Is.; plane lost on patrol, all ten dead; wreckage & six bodies recovered; North Pacific > Alaska.
† Jensen, Arthur Orville, SN 37-117-909, USAAF, Pott. Co.
  • 54th Troop Carrier Sqdn., 11th AF, based at Elmendorf AFB, Anchorage, Alaska Territory; Douglas C-47-DL Skytrain/Dakota #41-38635 radio operator; DNB 28 Nov 1942, near Lake Iliamna, Alaska; plane hit hillside in heavy winds returning to base, all eight dead, including Colonel Everett Davis, founder of the Alaska Air Force; North Pacific > Alaska.
  • Note: Arthur Orville Jensen was my father's second cousin; the plane crash location is marked on the page header map.
† Knutson, Harold Norman, SN 39-092-195, USAAF, Sioux Co.
  • 36th Bomb. Sqdn., 28th Bomb Gp., 11th AF; based at Elmendorf Field, Anchorage, Alaska Territory; Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress #41-9146 crew member w/ pilot Albert J. Wilsey Jr.; KIA 28 Aug 1942 Aleutian Is., Alaska; plane disappeared returning from three-plane mission over Kiska Is. led by Col. William O. Eareckson; all nine dead; North Pacific > Alaska; 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 Territory panhandle; member of a seven-man boat crew from Clover who all drowned in the breakers at the entrance to Dry Bay, the Alsek River mouth, while going to the aid of two stranded fishing vessels; North Pacific > Alaska; BNR. 
  • Notes: Earlier the Clover had been involved in setting up LORAN stations in remote Alaska locations.