Native WWII soldiers honored

May 17, 2005

JOEL DAVIDSON/Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - It's been 63 years since thousands of Alaska Natives first shouldered rifles to guard Alaska's coastline from Japanese invaders. Estimated at more than 6,000 volunteer men and women, the Alaska Territorial Guard formed in the early days of World War II to help keep watch over Alaska's vast wilderness coastline.

Over the past half-decade, most ATG members have died. Their service to the U.S. Army was never formally recognized, and they never received formal discharge or military benefits.

That started to change last year when the Army agreed to grant living ATG members formal military discharge certificates, thereby granting them military benefits.

Then last month, Gov. Frank Murkowski signed a new law setting aside every Oct. 18 as Alaska Territorial Guard Day. The law comes at a time when only about 300 guard members are still alive.

Jerry Beale, state veterans affairs administrator for the Department of Military and Veteran Affairs, is working to recognize the remaining guard members before they die.

With very little official evidence, however, the Army has had difficulty, for years, in verifying guard members' service.

"The biggest problem is finding some sort of documentation," Beale said. "State records weren't kept very good back then, and some records were lost to fires. You just can't produce documents that don't exist."

In 2000, U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens introduced, and Congress passed, a law to classify ATG service as active military service. During the following three years, however, no guard members received formal discharge certificates because territorial paperwork relating to guard duty was so sketchy that the Department of Defense did not feel it met military standards.

While recognizing the fact that documentation is difficult to find, Beale said the military has taken steps to find and use the evidence they can.

"Paperwork wasn't that important back then," he said. "We're doing everything we can, but we have to have some standards."

In some cases, they have had to rely on personal testimony.

So far, only 23 guard members have received formal discharge. Beale said another 19 applications are moving through the process of verification, including several applications from Mat-Su residents.

Sen. Charlie Huggins, R-District H, worked for years to recognize ATG members, and welcomed having a day set aside for Alaskans to honor their service.

"ATG members were always respected but not always recognized for their service," he stated in a press release.

"That changes this October 18, when communities and veterans groups will pay their respects to the Alaska Territorial Guard members that served with distinction."

Contact Joel Davidson at 352-2266, or joel.davidson@

frontiersman.com.