Any of you guys from Alaska ever hear of

[S.B.]

Casners cutthroats in WWII? They were a group of men who fought the Japanese in the islands around Alaska during WWII. Biggest land battle in north America during WWII. The army couldn't get troops trained for the climate  in Alaska so they scripted outdoors men and woodsmen to do the fighting on the outer islands. I've got a copy of the book, very good reading.

[Gun Runner]

S.B. There was a program about them on the history channel couple weeks ago. They all stayed warm and ALL the troops (both sides) froze their tail ends off. They issued them a .22 pistols to go along with their rifles. The .22's kept them in meat and skins all the time.

Gun Runner

[S.B.]

S.B. There was a program about them on the history channel couple weeks ago. They all stayed warm and ALL the troops (both sides) froze their tail ends off. They issued them a .22 pistols to go along with their rifles. The .22's kept them in meat and skins all the time.

Gun Runner

Yes, from what I've read Colt Woodsmans semi auto pistols were issued, book also mentions tin(Carhart) pants as issue. Personally, the outdor channel IMO is full of hot air, half truths to sell air time not facts or whole stories?

[Gun Runner]

S.B. I agree with you about a lot of hot air on the outdoor channel. But it was the History channel where I saw it.

Gun Runner

[muskeg13]

SB, take good care of that book.  It's long out of print and may be worth a lot more than you think.  I lost several boxes of books in a flood last summer and, at first, figured the whole lot might have been worth about $200.  Luckily for me, the insurance adjuster recommended that I look up the current prices on Amazon, and the copy Castner's Cutthroats I lost was worth $200 all by itself.  By the way, tin pants are made by Filson, not Carhart.  They have an oil finish that is water repellent.  http://www.filson.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2092283&cp=2065676.2065769.2117310&parentPage=family

[S.B.]

Tin pants may  have been  Filsons  but, Carharts are very popular with construction workers today, at least till they started making them overrseas and cheapening them up so much?

[corbanzo]

It really depends on the type of carhart, the workwear is still pretty thick, but they are coming out with new carthart designs that are lighter and dont keep up as well with the older style. 


its gotta be alaskans to base a conversation on carharts... 

[Sourdough]

The problem with Carharts is that they soak up water.  Once they get wet they take forever to dry.  The Filson Tin Pants did not soak up the water.  So if they laid down in the snow they stayed dry.  And in the Aleutians the temp is always changing.  Freeze today thaw tomorrow. 

The battle to retake ATTU was the second largest battle in the Pacific Theater during WWII.  The only battle fought on Americian soil.  The troops sent to retake Attu were trained for desert warfare and were also equipped for the desert.  The Japanese took many prisoners from the islands there also, the prisoners were sent to Japan and held in slave labor camps, where most died.

There is a whole series of books written on the "Forgotten War"  or  "The 1,000 Mile War".  They are in all the tourist shops here.  Yet I have never seen the one mentioned Casners Cutthroats,  I'll have to locate a copy and read it.

[S.B.]

You need to look for-- Casner's Cutthroats Saga of the Alaskan Scouts, written by Jim Rearden, published by Wolfe Publishing Co., from Prescot Arizona. Reads like it would make a great movie, wonder why some Hollywood guy hasn't thought so?

[akpls]

You need to look for-- Casner's Cutthroats Saga of the Alaskan Scouts, written by Jim Rearden, published by Wolfe Publishing Co., from Prescot Arizona. Reads like it would make a great movie, wonder why some Hollywood guy hasn't thought so?

Actually, you need to look for "CASTNER'S"........

[S.B.]

I stand corrected. Thanks. It's been some time since I've had the book out. I originally read it about 10-15 years ago?

[Dand]

If you like Castner's Cutthroats, look for Guys on Ice.  Maybe not as adventurous but it was a tiny group of guys put on St. Paul of the Pribilof Is.  Don't know if you could call it a battle as shots weren't exchanged but they killed a few Japanese who had come ashore to kill fur seals.  It can be found on online book sellers.  My mom was good friends with the author.  There are some pretty funny parts in it. After spending a few weeks on the Pribs off and on in the 80's it meant even more to me. It was pretty lonely duty in those days (WW2).

[Sourdough]

Bought a copy of the book at the airport in Anchorage a few days ago.  It's not out of print, it's a big seller here in Alaska.  You can find it in the Alaskana section.  That along with "The Forgotten War" and a whold slue of books on the Aleutian War.

[KP]

All,

Don't want to rub it in but..... I recently came back from a visit to Attu.

I'm a Senior NCO assigned to Ft Wainwright and my unit sponsored a Staff Ride to the WW II battle sites along the Aleutians. We went to Dutch Harbor to see the museum there and the bunkers along the high ground. Next we went to Kodiak and waited for a ride by a Coast Guard C130 to Attu. The big finally was the battle sites on Attu Island.

The accounts of the battles in "Thousand-Mile War" were excellent, but will never fully describe that terrain on Attu. I was there on a nice sunny day and couldn't imagine maneuvering through those steep valleys with a full combat load.

Below I'll attach some pictures, but first I've got to say the Coast Guard servicemembers at Kodiak and Attu Loran Station are absolute professionals. Thanks guys.   

[Rex in OTZ]

The alaskan coast is interesting, around Nome they have a few crashed lend lease aircraft still dotting the hills and tundra round there, In OTZ ive seen a few of the ATG rifles (ATG=Muktuk Marstens Alaska Territorial Guard) still lurking round, Back in the early 1990's I'd once had a sporterized 1917enfield stamped Oct 18 on the barrel got rid of it due to a pitted chamber, bought from the family of a ATG vet.
 Of the eight ATG 1917's I'd seen all I had seen had been sporterized.

Last summer I posted some pictures of six Studibaker Weasel's (GUNBOARDS FORUMS) removed from the Project Chariot sight cleanup up by Cape Tompson.  Project Chariot was the Fire Cracker Boy's intention to build a deep water port useing A Bombs.

[Winter Hawk]

Thanks for the photos, KP.  I was on Shemya in 1968-1969, working the White Alice System.  We could see Attu on a clear day.  The Coast Guard had a station there.  The GIs from Shemya would go to Attu for R&R, fishing, while the Coasties would come to Shemya to shop in the PX.  It didn't happen often, since you had to fly Reeve Aleutian Airlines to go from one island to the other. 

Reeve was quite an outfit.  Bob Reeve was the owner and chief pilot.  He had a fleet of DC-6s at the time.  He was banned from landing on Adak.  It seems like one day he was coming in there and radioed in to turn on the runway lights so he could land.  The tower said it was too foggy to land, so he said he would circle for a bit and try again.  After a while he calls in again to request the lights be turned on, and again he was declined.  He circles some more, finally calls for the runway lights.  The tower declines and tells him to overfly the island.  He replies that he is already on the ground, he needs the lights to find the terminal.  There was a big stink about that, and the base commander revoked Bob's authorization to land there.

It had to be really bad weather for Reeve not to arrive.  A friend was working for the Geophysical Institute of the U of Alaska at the time, and they had him and several others taking core samples up and down the Aleutians.  They flew on MATS (Military Air Transport System) as it was free.  There were weeks on end that they could not get from one island to another because the military said it was too dangerous to fly, but Reeve made it three times per week to deliver mail and passengers.

Enough reminiscing.  Again, thanks for the photos.  They brought back some great memories for me!

-Kees-

[Sourdough]

Thanks KP.  With the exception of Nunavak, all the islands I have visited look just like that as well.  Born of volcanic activity with ragged steep mountains and deep valleys.  Lots of grass, moss, low bushes, and few if any trees.  Nunavak is flat and desolate, bearly above sea level.

As for the book Casner's Cutthroats, it was an interesting read, but fiction.  Many of the events did take place, and Casner did gather togeather a group of Alaskan Hunters, Trappers, and  Guides.  All people with the skills to live off the land, and survive what ever the weather threw at them.  Men that had already proven they could survive almost anything.

When I attended NCO Academy, we had to give a lecture on a historical event.  Since I had been studying the "Forgotten War" and was familure with the subject, I chose the Aleutian War during WWII.  Almost all the lectures were met with a Ho Hum attatude from the audiance.  Few got much real attention.  But when I started flashing pictures up on the screen taken from the book "The Forgotten War", and started giving facts, i had their attention.   When I mentioned the Japanese had two bases on American soil, within bomber range of Seattle and San Fransisco they were all surprised.  That was something none of them knew.  Then when I gave the figures from the battle to retake Attu, the entire class was sitting up and giving me their full attention.  Even the instructors were totally engrossed.  At the end of my lecture the Instructors threw the formal protacall out the window and allowed a lengthy question and answer period.  They themselves asked questions.  I wish I had known more about Casner's Scouts back then.  While I had read a little about them back then, I did not fully understand there role and value to the War Effort.

[Dand]

Hey KP what do you think about that Japanese monument on Attu? Some of our old vets who fought there have been real upset about it. I think it was located right where a field hospital was.  When the Japanese overran the position some vets say some patients were shot in their beds.

That museum in Unalaska is pretty nice. Just visited in March. I lived in Dutch when a lot of the military buildings were still standing where grocery stores and hotel are now.

I lived in Unalaska 5 years. I still can't imagine how awful it must have been to be dumped there with cotton desert clothing. Even with modern hi tech fabrics its a tough place to be out in the elements.