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The Alaska Territorial Guard (ATG), more commonly the Eskimo Scouts, was a military reserve force component of the US Army, organized in 1942 in response to attacks on United States soil in Hawaii and occupation of parts of Alaska by Japan during World War II. The ATG operated until 1947. 6,368 volunteers who served without pay were enrolled from 107 communities throughout Alaska in addition to a paid staff of 21, according to an official roster.〔 The ATG brought together for the first time into a joint effort members of these ethnic groups: Aleut, Athabaskan, White, Inupiaq, Haida, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Yupik, and most likely others. In later years, all members of some native units scored expert sharpshooter rankings.〔 Among the 27 or more women members were at least one whose riflery skills exceeded the men.〔 The ages of members at enrollment ranged from 80 years old〔 to as young as twelve〔 (both extremes occurring mostly in sparsely populated areas). As volunteers the Alaska Territorial Guard members were those that were too young or too old to be drafted during WWII. One first-hand estimate states that around 20,000 Alaskans participated, officially or otherwise, in ATG reconnaissance or support activities.〔 The ATG served many vital strategic purposes to the entire Allied effort during World War II: * They safeguarded the only source of the strategic metal platinum in the Western Hemisphere against Japanese attack.〔 * They secured the terrain around the vital Lend-Lease air route between the United States and Russia. * they placed and maintained survival caches primarily along transportation cooridors and coastal regions. In addition to official duties, ATG members are noted for actively and successfully promoting racial integration within US military forces,〔〔 and racial equality within the communities they protected.〔 Several former members of the ATG were instrumental in achieving Alaska Statehood in 1959, as members of the Alaska Statehood Committee and/or delegates to the Alaska Constitutional Convention. In 2000 all ATG members were granted US veteran status by law, acknowledging the contribution of the ATG, some of whose members are still living.〔 But efforts to find the surviving ATG members and assist them through the application process are difficult due to lack of written records, oral cultures, lack of trained staff, passage of time, and unclear bureaucracies and advocates. Nevertheless, active correction of the historical record is proceeding through the Alaska Army National Guard, office of Cultural Resources Management and Tribal Liaison (888 248-3682 toll-free) as well as the Office of Veterans Affairs, State of Alaska, PO Box 5800, Ft. Richardson, AK 99505-5800, 907.428.6016 (Office) == Conditions leading up to the ATG == Before World War II, Alaska was regarded by US military decision makers as too distant from the contiguous United States to effectively protect, and of little strategic importance.〔
This stands in marked contrast to the attitudes of US military leaders during the Cold War immediately after World War II:
True to the earlier viewpoint, the US Army reassigned all Alaska National Guard units out of Alaska to Washington State in August 1941.〔 Alaska was now without military reserves or any form of Home Guard. In the face of an encroaching enemy, the defense of nearly of US coastline was left to the best efforts of unorganized local citizens and already overworked seasonal laborers. That enemy was demonstrating a definite interest in taking Alaska. In the early months of 1942, a Japanese Navy reconnaissance unit was caught on film making detailed surveys of Alaska coastline. Enemy combatants strode unopposed onto American soil and made inquiries among the populace about the local economy.〔 Enemy aircraft and submarine sightings were common, inspiring great fear among the locals,〔 and culminating in the raid on Dutch Harbor and the occupation of the Aleutian Islands of Attu, Kiska and Adak that June. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Alaska Territorial Guard」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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