By

• Main Author: John M. Weidman
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1969
• Subjects: Adak; Kiska; Attu; Alaska; Aleutian Islands
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.693.5710; http://www.hlswilliwaw.com/aleutians/Shemya/pdf/Shemya-Construction-1943-1945.pdf

This study of the beginnings of Shemya Air Force Base is a unique publication in the Alaskan Air Command. Very few publications, for that matter, have described the details of World War II base construction. Because the Shemya base was on an isolated island, its forming was unlike any other in the American military establishment. The Aleutian Islands, of which Shemya is a part, make up the only American territory that has known a foreign invader since the War of 1812. Shemya and Adak Islands, with the Japanese occupied Kiska and Attu Islands, were active war theaters, and Shemya served as a base to attack Japan after 1943. This use of the Aleutians gives the area a special interest in American military annals and Shemya as a base with a continued operational status has, in addition to the story of its building, an unusual place within the U. S. Air Force. In Alaska, Shemya Air Force Base is of great interest. Its location west of the 180th meridian places it closer to centers of East Asian population than any other United States territorial military station. The fact of isolation gives Shemya a distinctness that intrigues Americans and Alaskans. This study written by Capt. James L. Ross presents the reader with Americans who built a strong past under the most adverse conditions. Construction materials were scarce, and they came great distances; little was known about how to build structures in an unusual climate--some of Shemya's weather is equal to the worst in the world; and improvising was necessary. Within the monograph are details of how Shemya came into existence. The historical materials from which Captain Ross has written his account were furnished by ii