"Eskimo Scouts" Topic

Alaska National Guard Maj. Marvin "Muktuk" Marston decided that leaving Alaskans without protection was just unsat. He set out to enlist and organize a force of Alaskans to defend the territory's more than 6,000 miles of coastline, an effort that culminated in the formation of the Alaska Territorial Guard (ATG).

Because many members of the ATG came from Alaska's indigenous community, the unit earned the nickname "Eskimo Scouts."…

Military: link

That was really interesting and led me to read more on-line about Alaska in WWII.

I vaguely knew about Japanese occupation of Kiska and Attu and that it was one of the rare occasions when Canadians and US fought together against Japan. I had never thought about mainland Alaska.

Dumb question. Alaska did not achieve statehood until post WWII so was this a unique occupation of US soil and therefore different from say Wake or Guam which I think were "territories"?

I think the difference was that this was an occupation of North America.

When I was a kid my barber was an Aleutian Islands vet and he would always talk about the mud.

World at War magazine #39 (Dec 2014-Jan 2015) has an interesting article on this including how the good Major got his nickname "Muktuk". There is also a companion article on the building of the Alaska-Canadian "Alcan" Highway during the war.