Last Attuan captured by Japan in World War II dies at 84
Gregory Golodoff was a young child in 1942, when the Imperial Japanese Army landed in the Aleutians and took all 42 Attuans prisoner.
alaskapublic.org
The last surviving person from Attu, Gregory Golodoff, passed away earlier this month at the age of 84.
Golodoff was a young child in 1942 when the Imperial Japanese Army invaded his village in the western Aleutians. The Battle of Attu was the last major action of the Aleutian Islands campaign of World War II.
All 42 Attuans living in the village were taken to Japan as prisoners, including Golodoff. Only about half of them survived the experience.
Attu was abandoned after the war, and most of the returning Attuans settled in Atka, about 500 miles from their home.
His sister, Elizabeth Kudrin, passed away earlier this year. They were the last two living people who were born and lived in Attu.
Not a lot to add other than I did not know Attu had been abandoned.....Sorta odd that they were taken to Japan rather than killed.
Jap soldiers were told by their superiors that anything they did (and were encouraged to do) while 'at war' did not reflect on their personal life or themselves as a person and that they could still be 'good people'' by their usual standards.
