ABOUT THIS BOOK

When the 206th Coast Artillery Regiment of the Arkansas National Guard was called into federal service in January of 1941, few of the soldiers saw this action as anything more than a temporary detour in their lives. The war, after all, was in Europe and Asia and did not seem to involve them; many of the men thought they would serve their one-year enlistment and go home. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor changed all that.

The Williwaw War highlights the event sthat shaped the service of Arkansas’s 206th in the Aleutian Islands, including the Japanese strikes on Dutch Harbor on the third and fourth of June 1942, as well as the naval battle of the Komandorski Islands and the recapture of Attu and Kiska.

Written by the noted co-authors of the best-welling books on World War II, The Williwaw War chronicles the efforts of the men of the 206th as they battled terrible weather, overwhelming boredome and deprivation, and the Japanese, who were succesfully attempting to distract the Americans from the main Japanese assault on Midway Island.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Donald M. Goldstein is a longtime veteran of the United States Air Force. He lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he is an associate professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh.

Katherine V. Dillon is retired from the United States Air Force and lives in Arlington, Virginia.

They are co-authors, with Gordon W. Prange, of the national best sellers At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor and Miracle at Midway.

REVIEWS

“This is a vivid, detailed account of Arkansas Guardsmen in a generally forgotten part of World War II. Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon, who have earned the appreciation of readers by bringing to publication the impressive works of Gordon Prange, skillfully blend the experiences of these men with the historical background of the war in the Aleutians. Their interviews and correspondence with a large number of these veterans provide the feel as well as the facts of their taste of combat, the primitive life, the harsh weather, the monotony—the light and the dark of their wary.”
—Edward M. Coffman, author of The Old Army: A Portrait of the American Army in Peacetime, 1784-1898

“An Amazing story of Arkansas soldiers and their struggle in the Aleutians. Sometimes humorous, always serious as their experiences are told. Hardships and deprivation abound as they prepare for and join the only battle of World War II fought on the American Continent. A must-read book for those who want to learn about a forgotten part of that great war told from a soldier’s point of view.”
—Major General James A. Ryan, The Adjutant General, Military Department of Arkansas

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Preface

Introduction

1. "Well Above the Average"

2. "Training Began to Pick Up"

3. "Who Knows Our Destiny ... ?"

4. "A Sometimes Difficult Situation"

5. "Is this Alaska?"

6. "Officially Named Fort Mears"

7. "Early On in Our Story"

8. "Still Just a Big Adventure"

9. "It Really Looks Serious Now"

10. "This Is It!"

11. "Under Trying Conditions"

12. "Snafu!"

13. "This Country Gets You"

14. "We Plowed On"

15. "A Dangerous Game"

16. "Tomorrow May Bring Untold Things"

17. "It's the Damn Japs!"

18. "Friendly Planes, Hell!"

19. "The Waiting Is Torment"

20. "Like a Big Bunch of Mosquitos"

21. "They Sure Did Some Damage"

22. "We Calmed Down Some"

23. "The Japs Are Here!"

24. "Settled on Hog Island"

25. "Unfit for Pigs"

26. "But Duty Is Duty"

27. "A Little Lift"

28. "The Worst Storm of the Tour"

29. "A White Christmas"

30. "Out There When Conditions Were Rough"

3l. "The Japanese Could Have Sunk Salt Lake City with a Baseball"

32. "Charged with a Herculean Task"

33. "Sweating the Attack"

34. "Get the Damned Thing Over With"

35. "We Think We WIll be Seeing Action Soon"

36. "A Great Big, Juicy, Expensive Mistake"

37. "The War Had Gone By"

38. "Back to Civilization"

39. "A Learning Experience"

Epilogue: Return to Yesterday

Notes

Bibliography

Contributors

Index

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