Photo By Kare Lohse

It all started when as a small boy I was mystified by planes and their ability to fly. In my dreams, I could hold out my arms and fly anywhere ... I loved my dreams. At age 16 I started work at the Tacoma Washington shipyards for Todd shipbuilders, where I worked up to being an electrician. At 17, I graduated from Lincoln High School in Tacoma. I had been in a program for prospective navy pilots called V6, and I wanted to be a navy pilot. At 17, I needed parental permission to enter the Navy, so my dad and I drove to Seattle. I passed all the requirements to be a pilot, physical and all, and was entering the bus to go to Idaho for boot camp when a corpsman came to the bus and said "sorry, one more test" And I turned out to be color blind. There went the flying career. Bob, my brother-in-law, had just signed for the Navy Seabees, a construction group, so I returned to recruiting and they took me in the ranks. We were sent to Williamsburg, Virginia for boot camp. I was assigned to the 67th C.B. battalion. There I tried out for a group called the "Frogmen," later to be "Seals." I trained with them for about a month with the Marines, before I found I had to be 19 years old to be in this group. Then, we were sent to Camp Endicott in upstate New York for advanced training. Next, we were loaded on trains and moved to Camp Hueneme, California, near San Francisco. At this point we were divided in several groups, I ended up in the 68th C.B. Unit, headed for Attu , Alaska. Attu is the last island on the Aleutian chain. It had just been taken back from the Japanese in May of 1943 in a very bloody battle. I spent 18 months on this "Hell Hole". Williwaws - winds in excess of 150 mph - were the big attraction on the island. I was assigned to a lineman crew building power lines, climbing poles and stringing wires. The conditions were miserable and dangerous; working on a pole With 60 mph winds whipping around you, ice dropping on your head, and voltages in excess of 2,300. You did the whole job - dig the hole in frozen tundra, erect the 45’ pole, climb it, frame it, and run the wires. You drive the truck and winch yourself out of the mud. All in extremely cold temperatures and snow many feet deep. Not a fun place to vacation. I left the Aleutians in April of 1945 and landed in Los Angeles in the 94th C.B. Unit to be sent the Hawaii. There I ran trucks transporting equipment. VJ Day came around, and what a party; you wouldn't believe it unless you were there. Such jubilation, celebrated by all, the war has ended. How does it get better? My next assignment was Guam, where I climbed poles, strung wires, guarded Japanese prisoners, and cut trees in the jungle. They issued me a carbine "Pea shooter,” no ammo. I spent some time at company headquarters running the PBX system. One day I was able to announce, "Greene has 39 points, he is going home." I had my grandmother as a dependent, so that gave me 10 extra points. I landed back in the states after being in service 2 years, 6 months, 15 days. I separated from Portland Navy station in December 1945. As I look back, this experience gave a small boy a chance to grow up... something many young folks enjoyed. Now, at 86 years young, I'm on way to Hawaii to help celebrate VJ day...courtesy of the Greatest Generation organization. Thanks to all involved. I was fortunate to get my private flying license through the government G.I. bill, so did fulfill my dream.

#1. Attu Harbor at Massacre Bay, Attu, Aleutian Islands, AK.

#2. Attu's main runway.

#3. Lots of snow, cold and wind.

#4. Huts belonging to the 68th CB Battalion.

#5. Winters were miserable, so cold to work in. The runway was about 2 miles from our camp.

#6. We did have a laundry building and even a bowling alley!

#7. To the left is a PV1 aircraft, on the right is a B-25. [Andy Kozlowski believes the plane on the left is a B-26, used to tow targets. His dad flew them there]

#9. A view looking from our camp down to Massacre Bay...a place for ships to dock and bring in supplies.

#10. Off to the left was Army Town (U. S. Army Engineers).

#11. Seabees can make anything!

#12. This is our super highway.

#13. 68th Seabees Camp on the right.

#14. You can be immersed in these frigid waters for only 8 minutes before cramps and hypothermia takes its toll on your body.

#8. We lived in Quonset Huts and tents (layered six thick with wooden platforms).

#15. Attu really is quite mountainous.

#16. Water so calm you can hardly believe it when we have 100+ mile winds at times.

#17. Dolly Varden (trout) catch.

#18. Looks so beautiful, but could be so mean, weather wise... bad for air travel.

#19. Dolly Varden catch.

#20. Looks so beautiful .... but treacherous at the same time.

#21. As you can guess, never got to walk lot's of the island.

#22. It is easy to spot spring and fall.

#23. Did walk up to an airplane accident on a hill like this, all survived.

#24. The beaches were hazardous for invasion.

#25. It was a beautiful sight, all the peaks, made you want to climb them all.

#26. Not many [any!] trees.

#27. Also not many areas for ships to dock.

#28. So many salmon, you felt you could walk across on their backs.

#29. This is the road over to Army Town.

#30. can you imagine living here for 18 months?

#31. Point Able marker, where Japanese forces were covering East Massacre Valley with fire. A good bit of history about the American attack on Attu.

#32. Nees Peak (once known as "Point Able") marker. Great battle markers.

#33. Japanese KIA were disinterred from their cemetery on Attu and removed at war’s end, then re-interred in a special burial location at Ft. Richardson’s National Cemetery, JBER, AK.

#34. Translation reads: "The Grave of Late Army Lance Corporal Yamamoto Toyoyuki." (Our thanks to Dr. Kaji for this translation). This site also no longer exists on Attu.

#35. Also little falls is gone...Most American KIA were burried at Attu's Little Falls Cemetery located at the base of Gilbert Ridge, while others were burried at Attu's Holtz Bay Cemetery. Their bodies were exhumed in 1946 and returned to either Ft. Richardson [now known as “JBER”], or Sitka Alaska’s National Cemeteries, or to their families in the lower '48 for final burial.

#36. Attu’s Little Falls Cemetery, AK.

#37. A "tree" grows on Attu...an otherwise treeless landscape. Only tree on Attu.

#38. A "tree" grows on Attu...an otherwise treeless landscape. [It is of course an artificial tree!]

#39. Another photo of Attu’s "tree" on an otherwise treeless landscape.

#40. Had to dig out, about 12 to 15 ft. at peak.

#41. Looks like where the Japanese had dug in.

#42. Twenty-four guys live in a Quonset, quite a family!

#43. One of our wash rooms and showers.

#44. Many of us lived in tens, 6 to a tent.

#45. Navy PV1 "Ventura," single rudder, deadly plane to fly.

#46. The B-24; a great plane for the area, long range type.

#47. Japanese fighter plane ruins [possibly the Rufe located at Holtz Bay].

#49. Keeping runways open was a chore.

#50. AAF B-25...trustworthy plane!

#51. The AAF’s P-40. The “pros!”

#52. PBYs fly in almost any weather.

#53. AAF P-40.

#54. Navy PBY.

#55. AAF B-24.

#56. No heat in this bird!

#57. Happens frequently, generally caused by weather conditions [ice or melted ice on the runway, stiff cross winds, etc.].

#58. AAF B-25…a great plane!

#59. Help us identify this Seabee of the 68th!

#60. Navy PBY.

#61. AAF B-25.

#62. Navy "Ventura."

#63. A new ensign said wheels are bent on the grader...grader operator turned wheel and straightened them!

#64. Bill Greene in front of his hut.

#65. Jaeper Fagone.

#66. Duran. Sign on door reads: “Danger, High Explosives.”

#67. One of our power crew workers.

#68. Fagone and Tivnan.

ATTU ISLAND PHOTOS

ATTU’S AIRCRAFT

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ATTU PERSONNEL

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#69. “Snuffy.”

#70. Don't remember his name...standing in doorway of his Quonset hut buried in snow.

#71. Bob Dixon. [I wonder if these skis are the same ones seen in a photo of Japanese soldiers on Attu skiing!?]

#72. Guys playing commando.

#73. John Tivnan. Attu's streams hold an abundance of salmon, and Dolly Varden's are readily catchable!

#74. Snuffy?

#75. This was our job...keeping the power on.

#76. A little bivouacking.

#77. Al Atchinson.

#78. Bob Dixon.

#79. Bill Greene was the hut photographer (0ld box camera). [Image of Bob Dixon?]

#80. Another power worker.

#81. Tivnan and Greene with Dolly Varden (trout) catch.

#82. Another power gang worker.

#83. More "commandos."

#84. Our hut guys. NAMES ???"

#85. The reverse side of photo #84 shows the Navy censorship stamp of approval...this photo was OK to send home.

#86. Bill Greene on 125 foot antenna pole, spooky on top.

#87. Atchinson (Portland kid).

#88. Griego for Olympics.

#89. Tivnan.

#90. Kid Greene; "Oh to be 150 lbs again."

#91. Slim Ubank (sp) "our boss."

#92. Griego shoveling out the entrance to our Hut.

#93. Can you identify any of these guys?

#94. Attu's streams hold an abundance of salmon.

#95. A historical marker dedicated to Col. Yamasaki, commander of Japanese forces on Attu who died in a final charge against American forces, finally meeting his end near Engineer Hill.

#96. Our camp mascot.

#97. Christmas on Attu 1944.

ATTU’S VEHICLES AND WEAPONS

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#98. Japanese dozer.

#99. Power house covered...poor planning.

#100. The way to handle "big jobs."

#101. D8 Cat.

#102. Not too great in tundra. [Note: Jeeps throughout the Aleutian chain were outfitted with these wooden enclosures to protect occupants from the weather]

#103. Japanese truck.

#104. Landing craft (Japanese?).

#105. Possibly Japanese cannon.

#106. Our liberty ship back to states, the “U. S. S. Henrico.”

#107. Bill’s handicrafts from Attu memorabilia: a modified ka-bar knife, with Japanese knee mortar detonator.

#108. This knife was pieced together by Bill using a Japanese blade found on Attu along with separate decorative brass artifact (Observation by Dr. Kaji: A "Hara Kiri" knife was a stomach cutting, Japanese honorable ceremonial suicide. Strange shape, or was it bent? Looks like machine made. May not be a Hara Kiri knife.)

#109. One side of the brass artifact mounted above the knife blade itself (see #108) shows the following inscription, with translation provided by Dr. Kaji: 1) Model 88 could be Model Emperor's Year 2588 which is 1928 AD. Made for military use? 2) This may have been for use in wild fields and mountains. 3) Does not seem to be made for Hara Kiri.

#110. The other side shows this inscription (translation provided by Dr. Kaji):

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MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS

#48. The silver bird, DC3, our mail plane (AAF Skytrain or Dakota, C-47).

---Model 88 Field Mountain Sword (knife).

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Current Update: 02/20/2022 15:44

William “Bill” Greene

Last Update: 06/16/2018 07:13 Originally published: 07/30/2011