Don Blumenthal

We left Elmendorf Field and traveled by boat to Umnak. Since there were no docks on Umnak, we unloaded across the bay onto barges. Hopefully, there is a picture of this. When we reached Umnak, we unloaded by jumping from the barge onto a flat barge that was anchored to the beach. Not one man was lost or even hurt. This was in the middle of the night. We spent the rest of the night in a hut without heat or even beds. We just unrolled our sleeping bags on the floor. We awoke to the playing of taps and found out it was a funeral service for a pilot who had crashed his P-40 into the ground. We were on the island a short time during which we operated the Air Base Dispensary which was across the runway from the Air Freight Dock. We had no electricity so had to operate our own generator. One man was given the responsibility of keeping the generator running. From Umnak we moved on to Adak.

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	#1. Umnak Air Base taken from outside our Dispensary. The freight doc on the left side. A man is walking on the runway. I am sure it is a man. You know why.
	#2. Umnak Air Base, 1943 after the snow had melted. In the right foreground is our Dispensary. We had our own generator for electricity. One man was responsible to keep it running.
	#3. Jap equipment taken from the battle of Attu. That is the step that was used to enter the C-47. This C-47 landed on Umnak during the battle of Attu. We treated one of the injured as he had been hit under the chin and still had the field bandage on. The other patients were all frostbite cases.
	#4. Taken on Umnak in 1943, showing the door of a C-47 which was evacuating some casualties from Attu. All were suffering frost bite except one and he had a shrapnel wound under his chin. The equipment I am holding came from a late Jap. Note the hold in the helmet.
	#5. Me standing in the entrance way of the Air Base Dispensary on Umnak in 1943. Note the black out entrance. This the only one of the islands where we used this.
	#6. The Air Base Area on Umnak in early 43. The freight dock is just right of center. Left fore ground is our dispensary. In the center is our generator shack with an ambulance parked to the left of the shack. The foot prints in the snow is the path that led to our living quarters which was a stout hut, rather small but six of us lived there. Steel mat runway is between the dispensary and the freight dock. Oh yes, it was very cold and windy there as in all the islands.
	#7. This is how we landed on Umnak in the spring of 43. We crossed the bay in flat bottom barges and unloaded in the darkness of night. It was some experience.
	#8. This is the doctor that was with us on Umnak, Capt. King. One of the finest men I had worked under. He was more than a doctor. He was really a father to us young medics.
	#9. My best friend at that time, John Newell. l don't know if he is alive or not, if so he would be in his 80's.
	#10. Capt. King and Joe Ramsom. Joe was a very easy going person and was responsable for our generator to keep electricity alive for the dispensary.
	#11. This shows how the planes were worked on at that time. A building large enough to get the wings of a B-24 in to work on was under construction as we left Umnak for Adak.
	#12. This was the squadron on the dock across the bay from Umnak preparing to load on those barges which took us across in the middle of the night. We arrived at Umnak at 4:00 am. Cold.
	#13. This is how we loaded. The net was spread on the dock and six men placed their bag on the net. The net was raised making a ball. The six men hung onto the net and it was moved over to the barge and lowered to the deck.
	#14. What the dozer was doing out there, I don't know but it was no match for the tundra.

Don Blumenthal's Umnak Scrapbook 1943

Don Blumenthal's Umnak Scrapbook
1943