The Storm on Our Shores

by Mark Obmascik

  The bodies of Americans killed during the Battle of Attu have been transferred to other cemeteries across the United States, but hundreds of Japanese are buried on the island, mostly in mass graves now covered by tundra. A few old Coast Guard buildings survive. Storms knock down more roofs and walls every year. The current government plan is for Attu Island to revert to nature and remain uninhabited by man.

  1. First Sergeant Dick Laird after being awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in combat. This photo likely was taken in 1943.

  2. Rose Laird at age nineteen in 1936, the year she met Dick Laird.

  3. Dick, Rose, and their daughter, Peggy Laird, before Dick shipped off to combat in Alaska from California.

  4. Dick Laird and his clerk conferring with commanders on Kwajalein Atoll in the western Marshall Islands. Fierce fighting killed more than 8,000 Japanese and American soldiers and stripped the island of most vegetation.

  5. Paul and Taeko Tatsuguchi shortly after their marriage in 1938. This photo hung on the walls of the Tatsuguchi house for decades, and was the main formal picture Taeko had together as a married couple.

  6. Paul Nobuo Tatsuguchi in Imperial Army uniform.

  7. Laura and Joy Tatsuguchi in Japan after the war in 1946.

  8. Taeko, Laura, and Joy Tatsuguchi in Japan in 1953, shortly before moving to Hawaii.

  9. Six months after bombing Pearl Harbor, Japan raised its flag over the villagers of Attu Island. It was the first U.S. soil lost since the War of 1812.

  10. After training in frigid Hokkaido, Japanese troops were outfitted with clothing that could stand up to the unforgiving climate of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.

  11. A prewar aerial view of Attu village, with the Russian Orthodox church at left and the schoolhouse and shortwave radio antenna at bottom right. This 1934 photo was released to the U.S. press on May 14, 1943, as American troops fought to reclaim the island.

  12. A rare day without low fog at Attu village, photographed during a 1937 archaeological expedition by the Smithsonian Institution to the Aleutian Islands.

  13. A rocky mix of islands, shoals, and reefs guards the entrance to Chichagof Harbor, making any water approach to Attu Village treacherous for invaders.

  14. For the invasion of Attu, U.S. troops scrambled down rope ladders from their ships to landing craft that bobbed in rough seas. Dense fog sometimes blocked views of soldiers’ next steps.

  15. Grim U.S. troops huddle against the North Pacific cold as their landing crafts advance toward the Attu beachhead.

  16. Chaos reigned on the beaches of Attu Island as U.S. ships struggled to navigate rocky shoals and treacherous currents.

  17. The spongy and boggy soils of Attu made it impossible for U.S. troops to quickly move ashore men and supplies.

  18. With Japanese troops firing from the highlands, U.S. troops scrambled on treeless Attu to find any protective cover.

  19. Knee-deep mud prevented any swift movement across much of Attu.

  20. Attu’s slopes were so steep and spongy that troops added chains to tires and tried to winch vehicles up hillsides. Few Jeeps succeeded in making the climb.

  21. Many bulldozers were swallowed by the mud of Attu. With few roads, U.S. supply lines suffered.

  22. With no roads and few airdrops, the United States was forced to form man-to-man supply lines to push food and ammunition to rugged battlefronts such as Fishhook Ridge. Some lines extended two miles.

  23. On the day of this photo, May 14, 1943, U.S. commanders had expected the Battle of Attu to be over. Every day after that resulted in more casualties from the enemy and the weather.

  24. At aid stations, soldiers stripped their waterlogged boots and gave each other foot massages. Trench foot forced hundreds of men to stop fighting. Many were forced to have toes and feet amputated.

  25. Wearing boots intended for desert warfare, U.S. troops risked their lives walking along some trails on Attu. One slip on the icy slopes of Fishhook Ridge could prove fatal.

  26. When fog lifted, Japanese gunners found easy targets in the mud below. U.S. troops had to look over their shoulders while trying to extract supply vehicles from the unforgiving soils of Attu.

  27. Japanese soldiers had superior clothes and fighting positions, but could not match the sheer size of the U.S. fighting force.

  28. Major General William O. Butler (left) and Colonel William O. Eareckson (right), who directed the U.S. air war in the Aleutians. Eareckson’s pilots terrified the Japanese with repeated dive-bombing through the fog and mist.

  29. Two leaders of the U.S. Army’s invasion of Attu. Best known for his vocal support of the internment of Japanese Americans in the United States, General John DeWitt (left) erroneously predicted that U.S. forces would vanquish the Japanese on Attu in three days. General Simon Buckner (right) oversaw the ultimate U.S. victory in Attu, but at Okinawa he became the highest-ranking U.S. military officer killed by enemy fire in World War II.

  30. Rear Admiral Robert “Fuzzy” Theobald made no secret of his desire to work outside the Aleutians. Brainy and sometimes caustic, Theobald clashed with General Buckner.

  31. Most dead American soldiers were buried at Little Falls Cemetery, near the base of a waterfall from Gilbert Ridge. Their bodies were removed and transferred to other cemeteries in 1947.

  32. For decades one of the least-desired duties in the U.S. Coast Guard was working the Loran station on Attu Island. The station was decommissioned and abandoned in 2010.

  33. Seventy-five years after the Battle of Attu, the island is still littered with the leftovers of war, though rust, erosion, and native grasses claim more remnants every year.

  34. In September 2018, on a rare cloudless afternoon, the grass grows waist deep on the highlands of Attu Island. This is a view northwest from the heights of Engineer Hill toward Attu Village. The sloping shoulder to the left of Lake Cories is Buffalo Ridge, where Dick Laird and Paul Tatsuguchi met in battle. The photo is taken from the top of Engineer Hill, where scores of Japanese soldiers killed themselves with grenades after a desperate Banzai attack against U.S. troops.

  35. In this September 2018 photo, an eighteen-foot titanium peace memorial rises atop Engineer Hill on Attu. In 1987, the Japanese government donated the sculpture, which carries an inscription in Japanese and English that reads, “In memory of all those who sacrificed their lives in the islands and seas of the North Pacific during World War II and in dedication to world peace.”

  Acknowledgments

  * * *

  First and foremost, I thank the families of Dick Laird and Paul Nobuo Tatsuguchi.

  For the Laird family, daughters Peggy Laird and Elinor McGonigle opened their homes—and countless family documents and photo albums—for me during the reporting of this book. Many stories about the early lives of Dick and Rose Laird came from diaries and letters provided to me by Peggy and Ellie. Other key insights about Dick and Rose Laird came from Bill, Essence, and Charlie McGonigle.

  At the Tatsuguchi family, Taeko, Laura, and Joy answered my endless phone calls, supplied boxes of records, and let me copy family photos from the walls. Meeting Taeko was one of the high points of my career as a journalist. It is hard to overstate the patience of the Tatsuguchi family, and I am grateful.

  I was lucky to have a wonderful team of editors at Simon & Schuster. Leslie Meredith inspired me. Rakesh Satyal and Loan Le worked the manuscript to cut fat and add muscle. Once again my agent, Jody Rein, was a big-hearted pro. David Brown and Paul Olsewski gave this book a big push forward.

  Many researchers and librarians spent much time helping me to chase down obscure records and interview transcripts.

  At Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Doug Beckstead and Joe Orr set me up in a room of file cabinets and let me dig into reams of War Department records. John Haile Cloe, a former Air Force historian with encyclopedic knowledge of the military history of Alaska, helped me put those records in perspective. Faydra Lampshire guided me through National Archives documen
ts in Alaska. Rachel Mason of the National Park Service and Steve Delehanty of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service taught me about the cultural and natural history of the Aleutians. George Darrow and Mike Phillips at the Alaska Veterans Museum helped me gain access to World War II records. Sara Piasecki of the Anchorage Museum helped me find photos and written accounts of Attu Island before and after the Japanese invasion. Mary Breu offered terrific insight to the lives of Attu settlers Etta and Foster Jones. Jerry Sherard gave guidance on the history and safety record of the Appalachian coal mining business. Dr. Stephen Jaffe helped secure key background information.

  The Steny H. Hoyer Research Complex at the National Archives of College Park, Maryland, is a vast and intimidating place, but archivist Megan Dwyre showed me how to navigate it, or at least part of it. Researchers at the Western History Collection of the Denver Public Library served up unexpected records about the U.S. Army equipment, rations, and training.

  At Emory University in Atlanta, home of the archives of Professor Floyd Watkins, I was helped greatly with documents and interview recordings by Kathy Shoemaker, Liz Chase, Sara Logue, and Trey Bunn. Bruce Tabb of the University of Oregon libraries in Eugene helped me find my way through the Brian Garfield collection.

  For help with photographs, I am grateful to Lisa Hupp of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Gwen Higgins and Arlene Schmuland of the University of Alaska Anchorage, Becky Butler and Rose Speranza of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Sandra Johnston of the Alaska State Library in Juneau, and Ted Spencer of Wings Over Alaska.

  Christina Whiting, Marianne Aplin, and Poppy Benson of Homer, Alaska, helped me greatly with an initial reporting trip to Alaska. Draggan Mihailovich, Chris Everson, and Jeff McMillan put me on the camping trip of a lifetime on Attu Island. No thanks whatsoever to Wendelin Sachtler.

  For readers interested in learning more about the overall war in the Aleutians, the best single source, especially from the perspective of generals and admirals, is Brian Garfield’s 1969 book, The Thousand-Mile War. I also learned much from the official battle summary, Infantry Operations in the Aleutians: The Battle for Attu, written by Colonel Lamar Tooke and published in 1990 by the US Army War College. The best account from the view of soldiers on the ground is the 1944 War Department book, The Capture of Attu, which was written partially by Dashiell Hammett. “Modern armies had never fought before on any field that was like the Aleutians,” Hammett wrote. “We could borrow no knowledge from the past. We would have to learn as we went along, how to live and fight and win in this land, the least-known part of our America.”

  My family put up with a lot during my reporting and writing of this project. Our sons, Cass, Max, and Wesley, lifted me from my deepest funks. My wife, Merrill, always gave strength and love. I am a lucky man.

  This book taught me many lessons, but one that really hit home was about the sacrifices of soldiers. My father, John Obmascik, served as a U.S. Marine. This book is dedicated to him.

  More from the Author

  Halfway to Heaven

  The Big Year

  About the Author

  * * *

  Mark Obmascik is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and bestselling author. His first nonfiction book, The Big Year, was named a best book of the year by five major media and turned into a Hollywood movie. His second, Halfway to Heaven, was winner of the National Outdoor Book Award for Outdoor Literature. He lives in Denver. He and his wife have three sons.

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  ALSO BY MARK OBMASCIK

  The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession

  Halfway to Heaven: My White-knuckled—and Knuckleheaded—Quest for the Rocky Mountain High

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  Bibliography

  * * *

  Bix, Herbert P. Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. New York: HarperCollins, 2000.

  Breu, Mary. Last Letters from Attu: The True Story of Etta Jones, Alaska Pioneer and Japanese POW. Anchorage, Alaska: Northwest Books, 2009.

  Cloe, John Haile. The Aleutian Warriors: A History of the 11th Air Force & Fleet Air Wing 4. Missoula, Montana: Anchorage Chapter—Air Force Association and Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 1990.

  Cohen, Stan. The Forgotten War: A Pictorial History of World War II in Alaska and Northwestern Canada. Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 1988.

  Garfield, Brian. The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1969.

  Golodoff, Nick, edited by Rachel Mason. Attu Boy. Anchorage, Alaska: National Park Service, 2012.

  Hane, Mikiso. Japan: A Short History. London: Oneworld Publications, 2000.

  Hays, Otis Jr. Alaska’s Hidden Wars: Secret Campaigns on the North Pacific Rim. Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 2004.

  Ienaga, Saburo. The Pacific War: 1931–1945. New York: Pantheon, 1978.

  Kohlhoff, Dean. When the Wind Was a River. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995.

  LaFeber, Walter. The Clash: U.S.-Japanese Relations Throughout History. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998.

  Leckie, Robert. Okinawa: The Last Battle of World War II. New York: Viking, 1995.

  Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Boston: Little, Brown, 1947–62.

  Oliver, Ethel Ross. Journal of an Aleutian Year. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1988.

  Prange, Gordon W., with Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon. Miracle at Midway. New York: Penguin, 1982.

  Seiple, Samantha. Ghosts in the Fog: The Untold Story of Alaska’s WWII Invasion. New York: Scholastic Press, 2011.

  Spector, Ronald H. Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan. New York: Free Press, 1985.

  Toland, John. The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936–1945. New York: Random House, 1970.

  United States War Department. The Capture of Attu: As Told by the Men Who Fought There. Washington, D.C.: The Infantry Journal, 1944.

  Woodward, C. Vann. The Battle for Leyte Gulf. New York: Macmillan, 1947.

  Yahara, Hiromichi. The Battle for Okinawa. New York: J. Wiley, c. 1995.

  Illustration Credits

  * * *

  1. Laird family

  2. Laird family

  3. Laird family

  4. Laird family

  5. Laura Tatsuguchi Davis

  6. Laura Tatsuguchi Davis

  7. Laura Tatsuguchi Davis

  8. Laura Tatsuguchi Davis

  9. Elmendorf Air Force Base History Office / US Army Signal Corps

  10. Wings Over Alaska / Ted Spencer Collection

  11. US Navy

  12. Alan G. May papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage

  13. US Navy

  14. Alaska State Library Historical Collections

  15. US Army Signal Corps

  16. Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson History Office

  17. University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska and Polar Regions Collections and Archives

  18. University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska and Polar Regions Collections and Archives

  19. Alaska State Library Historical Collections

  20. US Army Signal Corps

  21. US Army Signal Corps

  22. US Army Signal Corps

  23. US Navy

  24. Wings Over Alaska /
Ted Spencer Collection

  25. US Army Signal Corps

  26. Wings Over Alaska / Ted Spencer Collection

  27. Alaska State Library Historical Collections

  28. US Army Air Force

  29. US Army Signal Corps

  30. US Navy

  31. Wings Over Alaska / Ted Spencer Collection

  32. US Coast Guard

  33. Lisa Hupp, Alaska region, US Fish and Wildlife Service

  34. Photo by Mark Obmascik

  35. Photo by Mark Obmascik

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