My grandfather served in the Arkansas National Guard during World War II, and his unit served in the Aleutian Islands from 1941-1944. The best book I have found on the contribution to the Aleutian campaign is a book entitled Williwaw War: The Arkansas National Guard in the Aleutians in World War II by Goldstein and Dillon (University of Arkansas Press, 1992). It is a very helpful overview of the efforts expended by Arkansas' finest during a very underrated part of the war. Are there any other books that forum participants can recommend which deal with the Aleutian campaign? They do not necessarily have to focus on the role of the Arkansas National Guard, obviously, but I am looking to learn as much about the campaign as possible. I am researching my grandfather's military career and would like to learn all that I can.
From the US Army official history see: http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/Guard-US/index.htm Also, a nice bibliography document http://www.nps.gov/akso/history/PDF/WWII-Resource-Guide.pdf Among those listed are Stan Cohen's The Forgotten War: A Pictorial History of World War II in Alaska and Northwestern Canada and S E Morison's History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, vol. 7, Aleutians, Gilberts and Marshalls, June 1942-April 1944; both good places for a nice overview of the war in the north Pacific.
Thanks very much for the resources. I will being reading through them and hopefully will learn more about my grandfather's role in the Aleutian campaign. If any other members of the forum have access to other resources, I would be very grateful. My grandfather was a very soft-spoken man, unwilling to talk much about his military career. He felt that it would be boasting to talk too much about his service. So the more I can learn from other sources the better able I will be to tell his story to my children.
