WWII militia that guarded Alaska

[Kyt]

http://www.ktuu.com/global/story.asp?s=7217004

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Thursday is Alaska Day but it's also a lesser known day to commemorate a largely Native militia created during World War Two.

Alaska was still a territory when the Alaska Territorial Guard was called up in 1942 to protect it from the threat of Japanese aggression.

The guard was activated after Japan's attack of Pearl Harbor and points along Alaska's Aleutian Islands.

Members of the Alaska National Guard had already been called up for federal service and others had been drafted overseas, leaving the vast territory vulnerable to further attack.

So boys and old men made up a large part of the 6,600-member territorial guard. Men of fighting age exempt from war duty and some sharpshooting women also joined the civilian unit.

Today there are an estimated 300 members still living.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the disbanding of the territorial guard. And it's just the third year since the Army formally recognized its members as U.S. military veterans.

[spidge]

They were tough people there in those days and would have given the Japanese a run for their money.

As Guy Gabaldon said, the Japanese were good fighters but they were stupid. Surely they weren't stupid enough to invade Alaska! (The Aleutians excepted)

Alaska is six times bigger than the total United Kingdom and inhospitable to say the least.

[Kyt]

The Aleutians were always a diversion (that didn't work), but the perceived threat was always higher in the American psyche than the reality.

I don't think the Japanese ever intended a major invasion of the US - why enter the hornets nest? But the deployment of troops as to make it look like an attack/invasion was a possibility was a tactical master-stroke as it diverted many resources away from the real front-line. It's just that Japanese (except Yamamoto) never really grasped that even these diverted resources were only a small fraction of America's potential, and so didn't make much of a difference to the overall outcome.

[spidge]

Originally Posted by Kyt

The Aleutians were always a diversion (that didn't work), but the perceived threat was always higher in the American psyche than the reality.

I don't think the Japanese ever intended a major invasion of the US - why enter the hornets nest? But the deployment of troops as to make it look like an attack/invasion was a possibility was a tactical master-stroke as it diverted many resources away from the real front-line. It's just that Japanese (except Yamamoto) never really grasped that even these diverted resources were only a small fraction of America's potential, and so didn't make much of a difference to the overall outcome.

Yamamoto and possibly a few weaker ones knew that if America didn't negotiate a peace in the first year of the war, Japan would lose. Pearl Harbors sneak attach without a declaration only succeeded in raising the ire of the American people.

Once in, there was to be nothing less than total war and total surrender expected from the Japanese.

[Antipodean Andy]

Where are you based?

Alaska.

Why can't you tell me yourself?

Sorry...

[Kyt]

Originally Posted by Andy in West Oz

Where are you based?

Alaska.

Why can't you tell me yourself?

Sorry...

[Antipodean Andy]

Nice pants. Must get some like that.

[spidge]

Definitely deserves Coventry for that joke.

You have to have the accent down pat!