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Coal, Salmon, and Flying Turkeys
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| Wallace was a PFC in the
U.S.Army. He served as a Scout, and was on Attu from either 1942 or 1943
until the end of the war. He talks about unloading coal from a boat. It
was soft coal, full of slate. They started unloading with each man
carrying two bags. By the time they were finished, there was a man at
each corner of the bag, each being barely able to move.
He speaks of Cape Wrangell (located at the western end of Attu), of shooting sockeye salmon during spawn for a change in diet and of spending a lot of time in the observation post, which he considered easy duty. He also talks about the President saying everyone was going to get a turkey for either Christmas or Thanksgiving. Well, the troops on Attu didn't believe a word of it, until the Navy flew over and dropped one. Someone had snuck a bottle of rum into the turkey package that smashed on impact. They spent the next three or four hours picking glass out of the bird before they could cook it. (If you know Wallace, please contact his daughter at: 2naughty@taconic.net)
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