Welcome

The Aleutian Islands…then and now.

The beginnings…

This site started out with the intentions of sharing anecdotes, photos, and links to other sites having Shemya, Alaska as a focus. Visitors to this original site would share their experiences on "The Rock," and in many cases would send photos and stories relating their experiences while stationed there...which we also posted on this web site. The original content thus grew and diversified to match the vast experiences of our visitors on "The Rock." As the original post-WWII Shemya web site took shape, the content quickly grew to include not only post-war inhabitants of the islands, but many WW-II veterans as well. The hardy folks that spent the years from 1942 through 1946 in the Aleutians certainly have a most interesting perspective of their tours of duty, and have written extensively about their experiences in organizational newsletters (such as Dan Lange's "The Shemya Mailbag"). These stories appear on this web site as they become available. Photos contributed by the WW-II Vets have also been included on this web site.The original contributors and drivers of the WW-II content of this web site, such as Dan Lange, Rene Thibault, George Villasenor, and Nick Moreska, just to name a few that were there during the war years, formed the nucleus of our WW-II segment. Since then, many, many more of our WW-II Aleutian vets and/or their families have been in touch and have contributed enormously in terms of photos, stories, and memorabilia to the content of our web site.Many visitors were stationed on Aleutian islands other than Shemya, including the western-most island of Attu (where the major battle in the Aleutians took place during WWII), as well as other islands along the chain such as Adak, Amchitka, Kiska, and Umnak.During the WW-II era, there were a variety of aircraft assigned to the Aleutian theater. Many of the WW-II stories on this web site include references to these aircraft. I've included reference pages for these aircraft on this web site that includes photos and specifications where available. A special section has been created featuring the 10 ERBS , the Army’s flotilla of Rescue Boats serving in the Aleutians on hand to rescue the crews of downed aircraft! We hope you enjoy your visit and find the information informative. If you have stories and/or photos of the Aleutians you would care to share, please send them along by either E-mail or snail mail.