Attu Island
Island in Aleutians West Census Area, AlaskaWikipedia
23
MENTIONS
14
EPISODES
10
PODCASTS
Search complete. 23 mentions across 14 episodes found for "Attu Island".
Oct 16, 2026
speaker_0NARRATOR
Over the whole campaign, only about 20 balloons were shot down by American and Canadian airmen, a figure that, set beside the 285 incidents logged on land and sea, completes the picture of an opponent that could not be intercepted, a fleck of paper on a blue sky, sighted too late, overtaken by nothing.
speaker_0NARRATOR
In April 1945, on the island of Attu in the Aleutians, two P-38 Lightnings brought one down.
speaker_0NARRATOR
The photographs of its carriage falling into the snow became one of the few recorded victories of this entire front.
speaker_0NARRATOR
Signals intelligence struggled with its own side.
Tail DraggerHOST
He took a specialized, dangerous skill set developed on mining glaciers in the Depression and turned it into a certificated scheduled airline serving some of the most remote communities in North America.
Tail DraggerHOST
Reeve Aleutian Airways flew the chain from Anchorage to Attu, the westernmost point in the United States, for decades.
Tail DraggerHOST
When you look at the route map, it looks like someone dared an airline to fly as far from everything as possible and still make money.
Tail DraggerHOST
The weather on the Aleutians is its own education.
Tail DraggerHOST
The war had arrived.
Tail DraggerHOST
Japanese forces had landed on Attu and Kiska in the Aleutians, the first time enemy troops had occupied American soil since 1812, and the military response was enormous.
Tail DraggerHOST
Bases were being built from Anchorage to the Aleutian chain.
Tail DraggerHOST
Civilian contractors and government workers were moving in and out at a rate the existing transportation infrastructure was straining to handle.
Roger McGrathCORRESPONDENT
Moreover, a beach master is in the thick of the action, exposed to enemy rifle, machine gun, mortar, and artillery fire.
Roger McGrathCORRESPONDENT
Lieutenant O'Brien sees his first action in the Aleutian Islands in the Battle of Attu during May 1943.
Roger McGrathCORRESPONDENT
A Japanese force of 3,000 men had been occupying Attu Island since invading the island against no opposition in June 1942.
Roger McGrathCORRESPONDENT
There were only 40 Aleut Indians on the island at the time, and the Japanese took them prisoner.
Roger McGrathCORRESPONDENT
The Aleuts were shipped off to Japan, and half of them died in captivity.
Roger McGrathCORRESPONDENT
Considering the wet, windy, and frigid weather and heavy Japanese fire, the landings on Attu go fairly well, but they are not without casualties.
Roger McGrathCORRESPONDENT
O'Brien himself is wounded and also comes down with pneumonia.
Roger McGrathCORRESPONDENT
It will be many weeks before he is fit for duty again.
BaileyUNKNOWN
Uh, but one thing that we are going to be tracking for today is our storm, especially sitting in the Bering Sea.
BaileyUNKNOWN
Now, if you are located in the Western Aleutians, including areas such as Shemya, even Attu, this is where we're really going to see wind speeds ramping up as early as this morning, and strong winds are going to carry all the way through tomorrow evening.
BaileyUNKNOWN
And although your weather alerts might expire by then, it is still important to know that these strong winds are still going to linger throughout your week.
BaileyUNKNOWN
And we are going to track even more strong winds pushing into the central Aleutian chain shortly on later into this afternoon.
BaileyUNKNOWN
Now, our impacts in Western Alaska are still fairly uncertain, but it does, it will include strong winds as well as high surf.
BaileyUNKNOWN
So definitely something to continue to track.
BaileyUNKNOWN
Our high wind, uh, warning has also been included with a hurricane force wind warning, and this is mostly for, again, the westward islands, including Shemya and Attu.
BaileyUNKNOWN
In Adak, that's where we're tracking a high wind warning.
Aaron MorrisonCORRESPONDENT
That's gonna get ingested by that area of low pressure out towards the Kamchatka Peninsula, and that's gonna lead to some strong winds through the Aleutians.
Aaron MorrisonCORRESPONDENT
If you live west of Adak, out towards Shemya, uh, Attu, this is where we're talking about winds in excess of 70 miles per hour.
Aaron MorrisonCORRESPONDENT
We could potentially see winds up to 90 miles per hour.
Aaron MorrisonCORRESPONDENT
Then as you head across western parts of the state, uh, we've got that coastal flood advisory, some high surf advisories, and yes, even some high winds expected across western Alaska.
Tail DraggerHOST
After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese moved on the Aleutian Chain.
Tail DraggerHOST
They occupied Attu and Kiska, two islands at the far western end of the chain, and the army suddenly needed to project military force 2,000 miles down a string of volcanic islands in conditions that made the Alaska interior look hospitable by comparison.
Tail DraggerHOST
The Aleutians are genuinely brutal.
Tail DraggerHOST
Williwaws come out of nothing, violent downdraft winds that can roll a parked airplane before you have time to react.
Tail DraggerHOST
He flew in conditions that kept other pilots on the ground, because he had spent 15 years developing the judgment to know when conditions were flyable and when they were not.
Tail DraggerHOST
That judgment was worth more than any instrument in the cockpit.
Tail DraggerHOST
The campaign eventually retook Attu in May of 43 and found Kiska abandoned by August.
Tail DraggerHOST
The Japanese having slipped away under cover of the same fog that had made the whole campaign so costly to prosecute.
Tail DraggerHOST
The war had reached Alaska by then in a serious way.
Tail DraggerHOST
Japanese forces had occupied Attu and Kiska in the Aleutians the previous June, and the American response was enormous and fast.
Tail DraggerHOST
Airfields going up all across the territory, men and equipment moving constantly.
Tail DraggerHOST
The Civil Aeronautics Administration, which ran the country's airway system in those years, was expanding its network of navigation and communication facilities as quickly as it could put them up.
Asher FremontHOST
So for it to be in Quebec is like the other side of the world.
Asher FremontHOST
It does appear on like the western side, especially of Alaska, which makes sense because like Attu is where a lot of the Asiatic species come over from Asia and are blown over to the western side of Alaska.
Asher FremontHOST
So that makes a lot more sense.
Asher FremontHOST
But for it to be on the eastern side of North America is pretty incredible.
4 more episodes mention Attu Island.
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