This photo has more historic significance than first meets
the eye. The photographer, J. Malcolm Greany, field Assistant, Alaska Game
Commission, out of Juneau, was on the Patrol of the M.S. Brown Bear to the
Aleutian Islands June 7th to September 13th, 1941. This was a short time before
the start of the Pacific War and a few months before the Japanese invaded Attu
and Kiska Islands on the west end of the Aleutian Islands.
From Attu the Japanese soldiers took 42 Native Alaskans,
residents of Attu, as “prisoners of war,” and transported them to Japan where
they were held as war prisoners until the end of the war in 1945. Only 22 of
the civilians survived to return to their island.
The woman's name was Annie, the second wife to chief Mike Hodikoff. She and her baby were no doubt two of the 42 taken.
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