Fighting the Forgotten War: The Attack on Dutch Harbor

Veterans recount the attack on Dutch Harbor, June 3 & 4, 1942. This film was presented at the Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the Bombing of Dutch Harbor/Unalaska and Aleut Evacuation Event in Unalaska, Alaska in 2017.

[@delcross6483]

Great video, honoring great men! Thank you for saving our country. In that video is a pic of the brilliant Japanese Zero fighter over Dutch Harbor, its engine smoking. Though it was unknown at the time, the shot that severed the Zero's oil line later caused the engine to freeze. The Zero made an emergency landing on nearby Akutan island. The pilot was killed but the Zero was later recovered, repaired and flight tested. Those tests showed a way that U.S. pilots could fight the Zero and survive. Whoever fired that shot at Dutch Harbor changed the course of the war and helped save America.

[@kentcarter835]

I worked, 40 years ago, with a man who fought at Dutch. I wish he had told me more about it. God bless them all.

[@vanguardoftruth4166]

I'm in Dutch harbor right now, I went to a history memorial to imagine what these brave men went through. Amazing, they built pill boxes in the side of cliffs and had bunkers in the hills. Going in one of those pill boxes was scary enough especially with how high it is from the ground. And it's cold and windy and one wrong move and you can tumble down to the ocean.

[@rcdoodles6214]

Great video covering a little known piece of WW 2 history and the courageous people who served in a very desolate location. Thank you.

[@Thedearster]

Great music throughout the whole piece.

[@AlaskaNPS]

Glad you like it! Thanks for watching.

[@crossfam5940]

@@AlaskaNPSdo you have the names of the music you played I’d love to listen to them on their own!

[@arcticviking7102]

Great job remember and paying tribute to the sacrifices. God bless

[@donadams8831]

My father was stationed there for the duration of the war.

[@aarondavis7581]

Spent some time in Dutch harbor commercial fishing. A beautiful place to make a living.

[@AndrewRGross]

This is a good video, but it barely scratches the surface of a much more interesting history: it omits that the native Alaskans living in the town were forcibly relocated to internment camps to free the land for military use, and that the town was eventually captured by the Japanese, making it the only American soil ever conquered by a foreign power.

[@delcross6483]

Dutch Harbor was never captured by the Japanese. They captured two islands further west, Attu and Kiska.

[@AndrewRGross]

@@delcross6483 Thanks for the correction. Do you have any recommended reading? I couldn't find much information when I was making my post.

[@markpatterson5250]

My step Grandfather was working on a tug boat in Dutch Harbor when it was bombed/strafed in 1942. Dutch Harbor was NEVER occupied by the Japanese. Attu Island and Kiska Island, out at the western tip of the Aleutians were occupied by Japanese. They were occupied as a diversionary tactic to draw American forces away from Midway Island, which did not work out well for the Japanese. Andrew, where did you gather your information from MSNBC?

[@vanguardoftruth4166]

@Daniel Hertzler that's so sad to hear that the natives were treated that way, god bless your family and the natives for occupying and helping with the war efforts on these amazing islands. War is Hell.

[@samuelharper1045]

43 Americans were killed: 33 soldiers, eight sailors, a Marine, and a civilian. Another 50 were wounded in the attack.[11]

[@jamesmurray8558]

There is a saying, behind every tree in Alaska is a woman. How desolate is that.