Aleutian World War 2

National Historic Area

By:Benjamin McEwen

What you will find here

In the exhibit you will find historic items used in the Aleutians
campaign, Quotes from the time frame, information about the
evacuation of the Unangan(also known as Aleut) people, a
reconstructed radio room that was built to look like the
photographs of how it looked back in the 1900s, a 1940s styled
theatre, an Aerology Building and a bunch of ww2 buildings that
look like they were used in that war. Tons of information about
the Aleut culture and plenty of activities for little kids.

Map of the site

(1)Dutch harbor after being bombed by the Japanese during World War 2.

(2)World war 2 airplane and an aircraft carrier. Airplanes could only travel 200750 miles at a time during WW2 making carriers or a base the best option for
attacking with aircrafts.

Ways the Japanese could attack the U.S

They could sail all the way around Europe and Africa to the United States or they could go to Alaska which had very few
inhabitants and set up a base to attack the United States.

What else was going on in the world at

this time

Grand Rapids Michigan is the first city to add

fluoride to its water to help prevent tooth
decay. Which is a good thing because
everybody hates cavities.

President Harry Truman abolishes racial

segregation within the army.

CBS demonstrates the first color television and

T.V. becomes more popular. In 1944 NBC airs
the first US television network broadcast.

With the increase to Television networks and

T.Vs in the household commercials started.

Why is this place historically

important

The United States decided to designate the area as a historical

site in order to educate future generations of the role the islands
had in the defense of the U.S during WWII and the history of the
Aleutian people.
Alaska was the only place where the U.S fought on our own soil.
Japan occupied two of the Islands in Alaska for more than a year.

Japan took some Aleutians as prisoners of war, so the United

States relocated all of the Aleutian's off of the islands into terrible
conditioned camps where 100 of them would die from the
inhumane conditions.

Why defense mattered economically

(3)The United states is worth over 16 trillion dollars a year. We
could have lost the war due to strategies if Japan had set up a
base on our own land.
Losing wars generally means the destruction of finances for
those who lose.

(4)Why should we care.

Presentation script:
Aleut: indigenous people of the Aleutian islands of Alaska.
(1) the Aleutian islands became a place of battle between Japan and the U.S. The Japanese. The
Japanese wanted to bomb the Dutch harbor but their message got intercepted by Americans.
Getting to the Dutch harbor they noticed there wasnt anything to bomb because the main forces of
the U.S army had cleared out because of the message that had been deciphered and they got
ambushed by American antiair fire which led to them to doing little damage. The Japanese
launched a second raid on the Dutch harbor which was more effective because they took their time
and made a new strategy. After the raid the Japanese followed it up with an attack on American soil,
they landed on the Alaskan islands and took a small naval weather crew prisoner. They also took
villages captive and sent Aleuts back to japan as prisoners. After the attack the U.S government
relocated nearly 900 Aleut people into terrible cramped conditioned ships and sent them to
internment camps where they would live in crowded conditions suffering from malnutrition and
diseases for almost 3 years. It took the United states and Canada almost a year to get Japan off the
islands because of the harsh terrible climate. The Dutch harbor and fort mears were naval operating
bases built on Aleutian islands responding to the fears of the growing war threat from Japan.
(2)Airplanes during WW2 could only fly 200-750 miles. The distance between Japan and the United
states is over 6,000 miles. So in order to get airplanes over to the United states they either had to
have an aircraft carrier transport the airplanes or have a base close enough to the rest of the United
States. The Alaskan islands are about 500-700 miles, and was connected to Canada one of the U.S.
allies which was Canada. So having a Japanese base built on the Alaskan island because nobody
was there would have detrimental to the Allies in WW2. So the Dutch harbor and fort mears which
were naval operating bases were built on the Aleutian islands responding to the fears of the

Presentation script page 2.

(3)
The United states has a net worth over $80 trillion dollars and has a gross domestic product of over
$16 trillion dollars a year. If it werent for our efforts during the past world wars and our defenses, we
would not have the same GDP, freedoms, laws and just about everything that we see in our world
today if we had lost the war. The entire world would be completely different than it is today if the
other side would have won. Generally speaking the losers of world wars dont get to make any of the
rules and most of the countries that lose have to deal with sever financial destruction and have to
pay for the wars.
(4)We should care because learning from our mistakes and the mistreatment of our own people, the
Aleuts will hopefully cause us to realize that we are all people just because we might be a little bit
different we should treat everybody as a human being. We can also learn that just because it is a
little island out in the middle of the ocean it could have been a cause for us to have lost WW2.