Whittier Museum

Whittier Museum Receives WWII Aleutian Campaign Archive By Ted Spencer Special to the Turnagain Times The Prince William Sound Museum in the port city of Whittier recently received a massive collection of World War II archival materials. The multimedia collection was donated by the producers of the feature film “Red White Black & Blue.” The materials were gathered over the course of 6 years for use in the creation of the 90- minute documentary about the Battle of Attu now being distributed by PBS. The battle took place from May 11-May 30, 1943 on Attu Island, Alaska in the Aleutian Chain. Fought entirely between the United States and Japan, it was the only land battle of World War II fought on North American territory. The construction of the film involved thousands of hours of research in U.S. and Japanese archives, filmed interviews with surviving veterans of the battle and a three-week expedition to Attu Island to film the battlefields. The film team was accompanied by two veterans, Bill Jones and Andy Petrus. The research team gathered rare photographs and film footage from numerous American and Japanese sources. Many of the films from the National Archives had not been previously seen in public media. In addition to the rare film footage and photographs, the donated archive included rare WWII Japanese publications and artwork. Many of the veteran’s photographs are from personal collections donated to the project. “We are very grateful to be entrusted with this wonderful contribution,” said Ted Spencer, executive director for the museum. “A substantial portion of our exhibit program is given to paying tribute to Alaska’s military heritage. World War II changed the face of Alaska and thousands of lives were lost in the process. Our mission is to honor those who served and keep the memory of their service alive. This important collection of archival materials augments already in the museum’s collection and is a major resource for us.” “We’re so happy that our source materials have found a good home,” said the film’s director Tom Putnam. “We’re looking forward to future generations having access to the tremendous number of interviews, period films, and written material that we didn’t have a chance to explore in the documentary.” The Prince William Sound Museum opened in Whittier in 2005 and was founded by Whittier residents. The town of Whittier, 60 miles south of Anchorage, was built as an Army port rail facility in the early days of World War II. Visitors need to traverse a 2.6 mile tunnel through Maynard Mountain in order to reach the small community. Ted Spencer is the Curator of the Prince William Sound Museum in Whittier.

All of these World War II photos submitted to the Prince William

Sound Museum in Whittier are sourced from the National Archives

and were taken during the invasion of Attu Island on May 11, 1943

by military photographers. The donated images were scanned from

the original negatives preserved at the National Archive in Washington D.C.

The exceptions are the images of “civilian contractors” which came from

a private veteran party.

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