Alaska Territorial Guard

The Alaska Territorial Guard (ATG), more commonly known as the Eskimo Scouts, was a military reserve force component of the US Army, organized in 1942 in response to attacks on United States soil in Hawaii and occupation of parts of Alaska by Empire of Japan, Japan during World War II. The ATG operated until 1947. 6,368 volunteers who served without pay were enrolled from 107 communities throughout Alaska in addition to a paid staff of 21, according to an official roster. The ATG brought together for the first time into a joint effort members of these ethnic groups: Aleut people, Aleut, Athabaskan, White people, White, Inupiaq, Haida people, Haida, Tlingit people, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Yupik peoples, Yupik, and most likely others. In later years, all members of some native units scored expert marksman, sharpshooter rankings. Among the 27 or more women members were at least one whose marksman, riflery skills exceeded the men. The ages of members at enrollment ranged from 80 years old to as young as twelve (both extremes occurring mostly in sparsely populated areas). As volunteers, the Alaska Territorial Guard members were those who were too young or too old to be eligible for Conscription in the United States, conscription during the World War II.

One first-hand estimate states that around 20,000 Alaskans participated, officially or otherwise, in ATG reconnaissance or support activities.

The ATG served many vital strategic purposes to the entire Allies of World War II, Allied effort during World War II:
* They safeguarded the only source of the military strategy, strategic metal platinum in the Western Hemisphere against Japanese attack.
* They secured the terrain around the vital Lend-Lease ALSIB, air route between the United States and the Soviet Union.
* They placed and maintained survival caches primarily along transportation corridors and coastal regions.

In addition to official duties, ATG members are noted for actively and successfully promoting racial integration within US Armed Forces, and racial equality within the communities they protected.

Several former members of the ATG were instrumental in achieving Alaska Statehood Act, Alaska Statehood in 1959, as members of the Alaska Statehood Committee and/or delegates to the Alaska Constitution, Alaska Constitutional Convention.

In 2000 all ATG members were granted US veteran status by law, acknowledging the contribution of the ATG, some of whose members are still living. But efforts to find the surviving ATG members and assist them through the application process are difficult due to lack of written records, oral cultures, lack of trained staff, passage of time, and unclear bureaucracies and advocates.

Nevertheless, active correction of the historical record is proceeding through the Alaska Army National Guard, office of Cultural Resources Management and Tribal Liaison ([phone] toll-free) as well as the Office of Veterans Affairs, State of Alaska, PO Box 5800, Ft. Richardson, AK 99505-5800, [phone].

Conditions leading up to the ATG

Before World War II, Alaska was regarded by US military decision makers as too distant from the contiguous United States to effectively protect, and of little strategic importance.

"...the mainland of Alaska is so remote from the strategic areas of the Pacific that it is difficult to conceive of circumstances in which air operations therefrom would contribute materially to the national defense."
– General Malin Craig, US Army Chief of Staff, November 1937

This stands in marked contrast to the attitudes of US military leaders during the Cold War immediately after World War II:

"...as I continue to correspond and to talk with people throughout the United States and the Department of Defense, they too can see clearly the importance of these two battalions which you make up. The real honest-to-God and real-world first line of defense in Alaska ... nearer our opponent, Communist Russia, than any other armed troops in the United States."
– General James F. Hollingsworth, James F Hollingsworth, Commanding General, United States Army Alaska (USARAL), February 1971

True to the earlier viewpoint, the US Army reassigned all Alaska National Guard units out of Alaska to Washington (state), Washington state in August 1941. Alaska was now without military reserves or any form of Militia (United States), Home Guard. In the face of an encroaching enemy, the defense of nearly of US coastline was left to the best efforts of unorganized local citizens and already overworked seasonal laborers.

That enemy was demonstrating a definite interest in taking Alaska. In the early months of 1942, a Imperial Japanese Navy, Japanese Navy reconnaissance unit was caught on film making detailed surveys of Alaska coastline.

Enemy combatants strode unopposed onto American soil and made inquiries among the populace about the local economy. Enemy aircraft and submarine sightings were common, inspiring great fear among the locals, and culminating in the Battle of Dutch Harbor, raid on Dutch Harbor, Alaska, Dutch Harbor and the occupation of the Aleutian Islands of Attu Island, Attu, Kiska and Adak Island, Adak that June.

Creation of the ATG

By the time of the Dutch Harbor bombing, Major Marvin R Marston had submitted a new plan to defend the entire Alaska coast by enlisting the local citizens. He had conceived this plan while visiting Saint Lawrence Island and contemplating the fate of the locals he'd met. Marston's proposal finally met with favor when word of it got to Alaska territorial governor Ernest Gruening. Gruening had sought to organize a new guard for Alaska, including every able man and boy, since he got word that the US Army would reassign the Alaska National Guard.

Motivated by the recent Dutch Harbor attack, the Alaska Command assigned Major Marston and Captain Carl Schreibner within days to serve as military aides to Governor Gruening. Shortly after, Gruening and Marston flew a chartered plane to begin setting up units of the new Alaska Territorial Guard. This included one of the most strategically important sites in all Alaska, a tiny mining town called Platinum, Alaska, Platinum—the only source of that strategic platinum, metal in all the Western Hemisphere.

The enrollment drive continued into early 1943, the organizers travelling in all kinds of weather and by every available mode of transport, including airplane, boat, snowmobile, walking, foot, and the most reliable means in the region, dogsled. When a promised plane failed to arrive after a week, Major Marston set out by dogsled on an epic trip around the Seward Peninsula, during the coldest winter in 25 years. He survived by foregoing standard military survival skills, survival training in favor of the native methods of his Eskimo/Scout and Office of Strategic Services member guide, Sammy Mogg.

Thanks to Marston and Mogg's heroic effort, the ATG stood as a first line of defense for the terrain around the Lend-Lease route from America to the Soviet Union, against an attack by Japan and the Axis Powers. This vital lifeline allowed the US to supply its Russian ally with essential military aircraft. This lifeline had proven to be crucial to Russia's survival during Operation Barbarossa.

Organization of the ATG

Authority

The Alaska Territorial Guard was organized in June 1942 under the authority of the office of the territorial governor, Ernest Gruening, who served as Commander-In-Chief. All members took an oath to obey the Governor's orders. The governor was directly supported by the ATG Adjutant General, J. P. Williams. Headquarters was in the territorial capital, Juneau.

Mission

The mission of the ATG was to play a defensive role for the entire coast of Alaska. Offensive action was the responsibility of Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, with North Pacific forces operating from large bases at Dutch Harbor, Cold Bay, Alaska, Cold Bay and Anchorage, Alaska, Anchorage.

Explicit within the ATG mission was that of protecting the terrain around the American terminus of the Lend-Lease ALSIB, air route to Russia on which warplanes were flown from Great Falls, Montana to Whitehorse, Yukon, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada, then to Ladd Army Airfield, Ladd Field, Alaska (now Fort Wainwright) and on to Nome, Alaska, Nome. Soviet pilots flew the planes from there to the Russian Far East.

By Date

The Alaska Territorial Guard operated from its inception in June 1942 until it was officially disbanded on 31 March 1947.

By Geographic Area

The Territory of Alaska was divided vertically by the 156th Parallel into Eastern and Western Areas. To the Eastern Area was added Southwest Alaska, including the Aleutian Islands, which had been evacuated of non-combatants.

The Western Area had a Field Headquarters in Nome, Alaska, Nome, with the offices of the Commander, Quartermaster, Instructors, Public Relations Officer and Chaplains. Other field staff were located in Anchorage, Koyuk, Alaska, Koyuk, Selawik, Alaska, Selawik and Gambell, Alaska, Gambell (on Saint Lawrence Island, Alaska, Saint Lawrence Island, where Major Marston first conceived his plan).

The Eastern Area was headquartered in Juneau, Alaska, Juneau and held the offices of Property Officer (a role filled by the Adjutant General) and Instructors. Field staff were assigned to Out the road, Glacier Highway, Douglas, Alaska, Douglas, Ketchikan, Alaska, Ketchikan, Palmer, Alaska, Palmer, Hoonah, Alaska, Hoonah and Sitka, Alaska, Sitka.

By Ethnic Group

The Alaska Territorial Guard was drawn from 107 communities and from these ethnic groups: Aleut people, Aleut, Athabascan, White people, White, Inupiaq, Haida people, Haida, Tlingit people, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Yup'ik, and probably more.

By Rank

The ATG, being organized by US Army officers, made use of the same United States Army officer rank insignia, US Army rank structure, with these exceptions:
* Throughout the duration of the ATG, no member rose above the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, including the Adjutant "General".
* The designation "Private" appears to have been little used, though most members were in fact of Private rank.

By Workload and Pay

The 21 staff officers were all full-time, paid positions (except for the governor, whose ATG duties were in addition to his regular office and without added salary). All other positions were strictly part-time volunteer, without pay.

By Sex

That total includes at least 27 ATG members who were women. Most women served as nurses at the field hospital in Kotzebue, although at least one woman served the ATG's primary mission alongside the men. Laura Beltz Wright of Haycock, Alaska, Haycock is also noted for being the best marksman, sharpshooter in her company, scoring 98% bulls-eyes.

By Age

The age of ATG members at enrollment ranged from 80 years old to as young as twelve, even though official regulations put the minimum age at sixteen.

By Number

All told, there were 6,389 members of the Alaska Territorial Guard, according to an official roster.

Unofficial tally

Alongside those who served in the ATG, many others worked to support them, including food service, providing equipment and supplies to the Quartermaster, repair work, etc. Major Marston put the estimate at 20,000 Alaskans who materially participated in ATG activities, in his Western Area alone.

ATG Activities

All ATG members except the 21 staff officers served without pay, and had to perform their new ATG duties in addition to the often difficult challenges of subsisting in Arctic and extreme marine environments.

The ATG trained for and/or actively carried out the following:
* Issuing of weapons and ammunition
* Instruction, drill and target practice
* Transport of equipment and supplies
* Construction of ATG buildings and facilities
* Construction of airstrips and support facilities for other military agencies as needed
* Coastal and inland scouting patrols
* Breaking hundreds of miles of wilderness trails
* Setup and repair of dozens of emergency shelter cabins
* Distribution of emergency food and ammunition containers for the United States Navy, US Navy
* Firefighting
* Land and sea rescue
* Enemy combat

The ATG received commendations for:
* Shooting down Japanese air balloons carrying bombs and eavesdropping radios
* Rescue of a downed airman

In addition, some ATG members performed the following:
* Medical care at the field hospital in Kotzebue

ATG Artists

During the 1930s, as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR's New Deal programs to ease the country out of Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration, Works Progress Administration (WPA) hired many noted American List of Federal Art Project artists, artists. On the US entry into World War II, several Works Progress Administration, WPA artists took work with the United States Department of War, War Department. A few of these artists made their way to Alaska to help document the Aleutian Campaign and other Alaskan military operations, including the new Alaska Territorial Guard. Some of their work was featured nationwide on a number of United States home front during World War II, wartime posters. The artists included:
* Magnus Colcord Heurlin, Magnus Colcord "Rusty" Heurlin - An ATG lieutenant, his painting was reproduced as the poster
"Back the Attack"
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"From Metlakatla to Barrow - The Territorial Guard"



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* Henry Varnum Poor (designer), Henry Varnum Poor - Hi
"Major Muktuk Marston Signs Up Soldiers"
now hangs in the Pentagon's Hall of Fame.

Other artists, born in Alaska and already well-known, gained further exposure through contact with ATG members and artists:
* Florence Nupok Malewotkuk - a Siberian Yupik from Saint Lawrence Island. Her work was promoted in the 1920s by Otto Geist, later an ATG major.
* George Aden Ahgupuk (also known by the indigenous name Twok

- a Shishmaref, Alaska, Shishmaref artist since boyhood and later the village's postmaster, he was befriended by Major Marston, who wrote and spoke of his artistry within and outside the ATG.

ATG influences

Several former members of the ATG were instrumental in achieving Alaska Statehood. In 1958 three of the eleven members of the Alaska Statehood Committee were former ATG members. Seven delegates to the Alaska Constitutional Committee had served with the ATG. Both are listed below under Noted ATG Members.

The ATG actively and successfully promoted racial integration in the United States Army, US Army by proving the worth of indigenous peoples, native Americans as soldiers within Military of the United States, US military forces much as the Navajo people, Navajo, Comanche and Choctaw Code talkers did elsewhere during World War II.

ATG members were also active in promoting racial equality in their communities, insisting on equal treatment for natives and whites alike at movie theaters, restaurants and other public facilities.

Recent developments

In 2000 Alaska's senior United States Senate, US Senator, Ted Stevens, sponsored a bill ordering the United States Department of Defense, Secretary of Defense to issue Honorable Discharges to all Americans who served in the Alaska Territorial Guard (ATG). Stevens was himself a World War II veteran, flying with the United States Army Air Corps, Army Air Corps in China.

The bill was signed into law by President Bill Clinton that August.

Because of disagreement as to whose responsibility it was to seek the ATG veterans out to inform them of the new law, and because of the advanced age and geographic isolation of many of the veterans, a temporary position, filled by retired colonel Robert A "Bob" Goodman, was created in the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs]

in 2003, to find and assist as many former ATG members as possible. After the position ended that October, Bob continued the work, on his own and funded out of his own pocket. In support of this effort, he founded th
Alaska Territorial Guard Organization (ATGO)
a 501(c)#501(c)(3), 501(c)(3) non-profit, in April 2006. He continues the work with the help of a small paid and voluntee
ATGO
staff. To date, they have found and helped obtain an honorable discharge for about 150 ATG members. They estimate there are several hundred more yet to be found.

Bob Goodman and th
ATGO
have pleaded the case of the ATG members and spouses with US senators, two Alaskan governors, most of the State legislature (United States), state legislature, th
Anchorage Assembly
as well as numerous Alaska Native Regional Corporations and other corporations and foundations.

Timeline of ATG-related events

* 1931 - The Imperial Japanese Army sets a false pretense and Mukden Incident, uses it to invade northeast China, confirming its intent to dominate the Asia-Pacific.
* 1935 - Billy Mitchell declares Alaska's strategically important, goes unheeded by United States Military, US military leadership. Earlier, Billy Mitchell was court-martialled for advocating the value of aerial warfare, military air power.
* 1937 - The US Army officially declines a request for an airbase, air base in Alaska.
* 1939 - Ernest Gruening is appointed Alaska territorial governor by his friend, United States Presidency, US President Franklin D Roosevelt (FDR). Gruening gets four United States National Guard, National Guard units organized in the Alaska Territory.
* 1940, March - A bill for an air base in Alaska fails to pass in the United States House of Representatives, US House.
* 1940, April - Hitler invades Norway and Denmark (whose territory includes Greenland).
* 1940, May - United States Congress, US Congress approves an air base in Alaska. Air raids from northern Alaska would help counter any Nazi bases built in Greenland, as a polar projection map will attest).
* 1941, March - Marvin Marston is officer (armed forces), commissioned at the Pentagon as a major with orders to Alaska.
* Mid-1941 - Ernest Gruening seeks a new guard organization for Alaska, anticipating the reassignment of the Alaska National Guard.
* 1941, August - The US Army reassigns Alaska National Guard soldiers away from Alaska, leaving the state with no military reserves or Militia, Home Guard.
* 1941, December 7 - The Imperial Japanese Navy bombs the US at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, sinking most of the United States Pacific Command, US Pacific Fleet. Soldiers' families are ordered evacuated from Alaska.
* 1942, Feb-March - A Japanese Imperial Navy, Japanese Navy reconnaissance unit is filmed making detailed surveys of the Alaska coastline. Japanese crewmen (enemy combatants) came ashore and questioned the locals about the area.
* 1942, March - Major Marston realizes the practicality of a 'tundra army' to defend the entire Alaskan coast.
* 1942, March - Japanese aircraft are sighted over Saint Lawrence Island.
* 1942, Mar/April - Major Marston presents a formal plan for the defense of Alaska shoreline.
* 1942, June - Japanese forces raid Dutch Harbor and take control of Attu Island, Attu, Kiska and Adak Island, Adak.
* 1942, June - The Alaska Command assigns Major Marvin Marston and Captain Carl Schreibner as military aides to Governor Gruening. Gruening and Marston soon embark on a trip to form the first units of the new Alaska Territorial Guard.
* 1942 - Major Marston (by now known as "Muktuk" after an eating contest with a village headman) opts to make an ATG recruiting run by dogsled when a promised plane fails to show up.
* 1943, January - Major Marston completes his circuit around the Seward Peninsula by dogsled during the coldest winter in 25 years. Living by native methods, he continues to travel the Arctic through 1945.
* 1945, August - Victory over Japan Day, VJ Day, The Empire of Japan surrenders.
* 1947 - The Alaska Territorial Guard is disbanded.
* 1966 - The State of Alaska awards a medal to all ATG members.
* 2000 - United States Senate, US Senator Ted Stevens' (Republican Party (United States), R-AK) bill granting ATG members full veteran status is passed into law. Little is done to find and inform surviving ATG members and spouses, many of whom relocated numerous times in the intervening 53 years.
* 2003 - Robert A "Bob" Goodman, Colonel (Retired), Alaska Air National Guard, takes up the task of finding as many former ATG members as possible, to help them apply for recognition as US veterans.
* 2006 - Bob Goodman founds th
Alaska Territorial Guard Organization
a 501(c)#501(c)(3), 501(c)(3) non-profit, to support his efforts on behalf of all former ATG members. To date, they have found and helped gain approval for about 150 ATG veterans.

Noted ATG members

* Robert Atwood, Atwood, Robert - Editor and publisher of the Anchorage Times, ATG lieutenant, Statehood Committee chair
* William Allen Egan, Egan, William A. - territorial & state representative, ATG corporal, Constitutional Convention president, state governor
* Otto W. Geist, Geist, Otto William - Pioneer Alaskan archaeologist, promoter of Alaskan artist Florence Nupok Malewoktuk, ATG major and quartermaster. The University of Alaska Museum's main building is named for him.
* Ernest Gruening, Gruening, Ernest - Friend of FDR, territorial governor, ATG founder, Statehood Committee member, United States Senator, US Senator
* Rocky Gutierrez, Gutierrez, Fermin "Rocky"
* Magnus Colcord Heurlin, Heurlin, Magnus Colcord "Rusty" - WPA artist, ATG lieutenant, famed Alaskan artist, first art teacher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, influenced fellow artist Fred Machetanz
* Fred Ipalook, Ipalook, Fred - Inupiaq indigenous peoples, native, ATG lieutenant, teacher for 39 years.
* Percy Ipalook, Ipalook, Percy - Inupiaq native, ATG chaplain, territorial & state legislator, Stathehood Committee member
* Maurice T. Johnson, Johnson, Maurice Theodore - ATG member, Constitutional Convention delegate
* Holger Jorgensen, Jorgensen, Holger - ATG sergeant, commercial airline pilotLester, Jean. 2008. Jorgy: The Life of Native Alaskan Bush Pilot and Airline Captain Holger "Jorgy" Jorgensen. Ester Republic Press.
* William Wellington Knight, Knight, William Wellington - ATG member, Constitutional Convention delegate
* Daniel Lisbourne, Lisbourne, Daniel - ATG member, mayor
* Muktuk Marston, Marston, Marvin R "Muktuk", Major, US Army - ATG organizer of Western Alaska, Constitutional Convention delegate, author of the book ''Men of the Tundra: Alaska Eskimos at War'' on the ATG, published in 1969
* Robert McNealy, McNealy, Robert J - ATG corporal, Constitutional Convention delegate
* Sammy Mogg, Mogg, Samuel Snell "Sammy" - ATG lieutenant, guide who led Major Marston by dogsled on an epic mid-winter organizing circuit around the Seward Peninsula.
* Frank Peratrovich, Peratrovich, Frank J. - Tlingit people, Tlingit native; ATG captain; mayor; territorial & state representative; senator & senate president; Statehood Committee member; Constitutional Convention first vice president
* Peter Reader, Reader, Peter L. - ATG member, Constitutional Convention delegate
* Schreibner, Carl, Captain, US Army - ATG organizer of Eastern Alaska
* Laura Beltz WWright, Laura Beltz - ATG member, best marksman, sharpshooter in her company, shooting 98% bulls-eyes, former Queen of Fairbanks

See also

* Former United States special operations units
* Shadow Wolves

References

External links

University of Alaska Digital Archives

{{Authority control

Military in Alaska
Military units and formations in Alaska
Organizations established in 1942
State defense forces of the United States
United States Army Indian Scouts
1942 establishments in Alaska
Military history of Native Americans