When the 206th Coast Artillery Regiment of the Arkansas National Guard was called into federal service in January of 1941, few of the soldiers saw this action as anything more than a temporary detour in their lives. The war, after all, was in Europe and Asia and did not seem to involve them; many of the men thought they would serve their one-year enlistment and go home. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor changed all that.
The Williwaw War highlights the events that shaped the service of Arkansas’s 206th in the Aleutian Islands, including the Japanese strikes on Dutch Harbor on the third and fourth of June 1942, as well as the naval battle of the Komandorski Islands and the recapture of Attu and Kiska.
Written by the noted co-authors of the best-welling books on World War II, The Williwaw War chronicles the efforts of the men of the 206th as they battled terrible weather, overwhelming boredom and deprivation, and the Japanese, who were successfully attempting to distract the Americans from the main Japanese assault on Midway Island.
Donald M. Goldstein is a longtime veteran of the United States Air Force. He lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he is an associate professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh.
Katherine V. Dillon is retired from the United States Air Force and lives in Arlington, Virginia.
They are co-authors, with Gordon W. Prange, of the national best sellers At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor and Miracle at Midway.
“This is a vivid, detailed account of Arkansas Guardsmen in a generally forgotten part of World War II. Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon, who have earned the appreciation of readers by bringing to publication the impressive works of Gordon Prange, skillfully blend the experiences of these men with the historical background of the war in the Aleutians. Their interviews and correspondence with a large number of these veterans provide the feel as well as the facts of their taste of combat, the primitive life, the harsh weather, the monotony—the light and the dark of their wary.”
—Edward M. Coffman, author of The Old Army: A Portrait of the American Army in Peacetime, 1784-1898
“An Amazing story of Arkansas soldiers and their struggle in the Aleutians. Sometimes humorous, always serious as their experiences are told. Hardships and deprivation abound as they prepare for and join the only battle of World War II fought on the American Continent. A must-read book for those who want to learn about a forgotten part of that great war told from a soldier’s point of view.”
—Major General James A. Ryan, The Adjutant General, Military Department of Arkansas
