Shemya
Island, Alaska
The "Black Pearl of the Aleutians"
Until 1995, if you happened to be in the U.S.
military, worked for the U.S. government, or were a
DoD contractor, you could have won an all expense
paid vacation to Shemya, Alaska. This would include
round trip air fare, shelter, and three square meals
a day thrown in for good measure. Shemya is located
near the western end of the Aleutian chain, roughly
1500 miles away from Anchorage, Alaska (see
map). The island of Attu is just to the
northwest, while Agattu is just off to the west and
can be seen from Shemya on a clear day. On March
31st, 1995, after 50 years of being a haven for U.S.
military and military support personnel, Shemya was
turned over to caretaker status to be operated by
the DoD contractor firm of PMC. The Island is now a
strategic refueling stop for military aircraft as
well as link in the United State's long-range early
warning radar system.
Active duty military personnel would receive
anywhere from a 1-year remote duty assignment on the
Rock to a 4 year tour in Anchorage with frequent
visits to the Rock, while contractor personnel would
receive varying length assignments, usually no
longer than a year. This of course, was the scenario
after the war. The Japanese occupied Attu island as
well as several others in the Aleutian chain during
WWII. For an interesting read, check out the book
titled "The Thousand Mile War: World War II in
Alaska and the Aleutians" by Brian Garfield. It
appears that more men and equipment were lost to
mother nature's rage than to the physical fighting
between waring sides!
While cruising the 'net one day, I wondered if
some obscure place like Shemya would have a web
page...certainly the folks on the Island would have
adequate time on their hands to do something
creative like a web page...and cranked up the search
engines to see what was available. Sure enough, true
to form, the web offered up several hits on
"Shemya," however, non originated from the
Island. To help fill the void, I've created this web
site. To see a collection of pictures of post-war
life on Shemya, click on the "Post WWII"
menu link above. Click on the "WWII" menu
link to see how folks lived during the war, and
visit the Shemya Mailbag menu link to read about
their stories. The "Shemya Links" menu
item will take you to a page of links to other
Shemya sites. To learn a little history of Shemya,
click on the "books" icon below. If you
missed the ominous clouds over the picture of Shemya
at the top of the page, click on it and you can see
the weather for the entire Aleutian chain. Oh, by
the way, if you've got a sound card, turn up the
volume and listen to the waves...sounds like the
northwestern side of the island during high
seas...hear the rocks rolling around?
Check out the Visitor's Log while
you're here. You could either sign it or just view
it at your leisure!
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You can now purchase The History Channel's
