The popular Jeep completely lost its original appearance on Shemya and
was turned into a sedan. Because of the weather, these little vehicles were provided with improvised enclosed bodies resembling custom built automobiles.

Japs Feel Sting of llth Air Force Men on Shemya

In the meantime, bombers of the llth Air Force were paying regular
visits to the Kuriles, Paramushiro, Shimush and Araido. Military and
naval installations along with canneries, furnishing much of Japan's
food, were priority targets on these islands.

Super-Secrecy Shrouds Shemya

Shemya was identified merely as APO 729. Its Secrecy was well kept, despite rumors that Tokyo Rose had referred to the island by name on
her radio program a number of times. Jap subs patrolled the waters
in search of information. One was forced to surface and was struck off Shemya's shore by a destroyer on 20 June 1944. The craft was rammed
twice before it finally went down. But despite the vigilance on the
part of the enemy, they could still only guess what was going on. And their guesses were remarkably inaccurate, as evidenced by their own actions:

Toward the end of the war in July 1945, propaganda broadcasts from
Tokyo reported that American mountain troops were being trained on
Agattu for an invasion of the Northern Kuriles. The Nips sensed considerable activity in-the Western Aleutians. They guessed close,
but Agattu, even though it can be seen very plainly from this island, still isn't Shemya. Their propaganda only proved how little they really did know.

As the island built up, men had more leisure time to spend, weaving
yarns about their experiences in civilian life and the hardships of Aleutian service. They spoke in the colloquialism of the islands.
Sudden flurries of snow and wind reaching velocities in excess of a hundred miles an hour were referred to as "williwaws."

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