7th ID Kiska

[US0844]

Hi all,

 

I wonder if the patch of the 7th ID was brought under the Kiska patch during the Battle of Kiska ? like the WSP?

 

Thank you in advance

 

[lamarhooten]

Hi all,

 

I wonder if the patch of the 7th ID was brought under the Kiska patch during the Battle of Kiska ? like the WSP?

 

Thank you in advance

 

There is no 7th ID patch in this picture. :think: Nice uniform thou! Can't say i have seen that type of two patched jacket before! And to answer you question directly, i think not. Could be wrong, so wait for other input!

[X_redcatcher]

I have only seen the 1st SSF patch worn this way, but I am always ready to hear something else.

[US0844]

Hi all,

 

I wonder if the patch of the 7th ID was brought under the Kiska patch during the Battle of Kiska ? like the WSP?

 

Thank you in advance

 

 

Thank you both.

 

During Kiska, the 7th ID patch was worn on the left and the right patch Kiska? Possible ?

[chcole1]

In film footage of the battle, I've seen the FSSF worn on the left shoulder. I have also seen the Kiska patch worn on both shoulders, but never seen a 7th ID worn.

 

Chris

[patches]

In film footage of the battle, I've seen the FSSF worn on the left shoulder. I have also seen the Kiska patch worn on both shoulders, but never seen a 7th ID worn.

 

Chris

 

There was no battle or fighting on Kiska, the Japanese Marine garrisson successfully evacuated Kiska, no one was more suprised ( And Relived)than the assault troops,a more apt term would be the Kiska operation. The 17th and 184th Infantry's of the 7th Division made the amphibious landings, but it may be they were a unit apart from the Kiska Task Force, do know for sure.

[unterhund]

My father was a rifle platoon leader in the 3rd Battalion of the 17th Infantry Regt., 7th Division, and participated in Operation COTTAGE, the assault on Kiska Island. My research leads me to believe that no 7th Div. patches were worn during the operation. A booklet with MG Charles Corlett's standing orders for the division in the operation indicates that all personnel were to wear the "Kiska Patch" on both shoulders on every garment, that is, shirts, field jackets, parkas, and/or ponchos. In my collection of my father's memorabilia is one of the ATF 9 "Kiska patches," which is of the "iron-on" type, meant for a raincoat or poncho.

 

I have seen photos of 1st SSF personnel wearing that unit's patch underneath the "Kiska patch," but have found no pictures, despite copious research, of 7th ID personnel wearing anything other than the "Kiska patch.

[vintageproductions]

There was no battle or fighting on Kiska, the Japanese Marine garrisson successfully evacuated Kiska, no one was more suprised ( And Relived)than the assault troops,a more apt term would be the Kiska operation. The 17th and 184th Infantry's of the 7th Division made the amphibious landings, but it may be they were a unit apart from the Kiska Task Force, do know for sure.

 

 

I think my grandfather would argue the point of no fighting on Kiska, as he was part of the 7th.

[atb]

I think my grandfather would argue the point of no fighting on Kiska, as he was part of the 7th.

Did combat occur on Kiska besides the fratricide between allied units? Were some Japanese forces forgotton in their evacuation? Thanks.

[KurtA]

Did combat occur on Kiska besides the fratricide between allied units? Were some Japanese forces forgotton in their evacuation? Thanks.

We can always count on you to contribute a post with a snarky and condescending “edge” to it.

[patches]

I think my grandfather would argue the point of no fighting on Kiska, as he was part of the 7th.

 

I dont understand, it has been established that the Japs succesfully evacuated Kiska, all they found was what, a Dog. There was casualties from booby traps, and the inevitable accidents that allways occur, but actual combat ? combat against who ? the Japanese Marines that where on Kiska where gone.

[atb]

We can always count on you to contribute a post with a snarky and condescending “edge” to it.

 

?

[vintageproductions]

Before my Grandfather died, he finally opened up about his experiences.

One was, how he ever wondered where people came up with the idea that all Japanese were gone from Kiska, when the troops arrived.

He decribed many instances where his unit killed Japanese, and before someone else chimes in, he knew the difference between Japanese forces and friendly forces.

Plus he told about capturing a couple of Japanese soldiers and being told to get rid of them as they barely had enough rations for themselves.

[atb]

Before my Grandfather died, he finally opened up about his experiences.

One was, how he ever wondered where people came up with the idea that all Japanese were gone from Kiska, when the troops arrived.

He decribed many instances where his unit killed Japanese, and before someone else chimes in, he knew the difference between Japanese forces and friendly forces.

Plus he told about capturing a couple of Japanese soldiers and being told to get rid of them as they barely had enough rations for themselves.

"...and before someone else chimes in," if it is little known or not widely reported, than that kind of information deserves to be out there. That is all I asked. Honors to your Grandfather.

[patches]

As Im in in quandray in this reguard. I will post these links, you see even before I started using a computer, I always read that this was what had occured, No Japs on Kiska, none. I even seen a Japanese Movie on this, a docudrama way back in the early to mid 70s, it was on channel 13, the PBS channel here in NYC., it was in fact from what I remember a really good movie, I wish I could try and track it down.

 

With the GREATEST RESPECT for your Grandad, I sincerly mean that, I do feel compelled to at least post these links, I see nothing that I have not already seen on the Kiska operation for years by reading books .

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7th_Infantry_...(United_States)

 

http://www.pacificwrecks.com/provinces/alaska_kiska.html

 

http://alaskamaritime.fws.gov/visitors-edu...skaOrdnance.pdf

 

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/USSBS/IJO/IJO-22.html

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleutian_Isla...gn#Kiska_Island

 

http://www.hlswilliwaw.com/aleutians/aleut...utians-wwii.htm

 

 

The list of stuff I found is extensive, so here I posted 5, in each case there is no mention of mopping up, in the Pacific War the term MOPPING UP crops up practically all the time when one reads Unit histories of operations whether Marine Corps or Army, but as we see in the above, it is not mentioned.

[vintageproductions]

Well, I also have the signed Japanese flag he took off a dead Japanese Captain, he shot, from the time he was in Kiska.

I also have about twenty of the oil skin patches that he never used.

[patches]

Well, I also have the signed Japanese flag he took off a dead Japanese Captain, he shot, from the time he was in Kiska.

I also have about twenty of the oil skin patches that he never used.

 

 

It would seem that there were a very small amount of Army troops on Kiska, but why no mention of fighting, your grandfather states that they summarly executed at least two Japanese POWs, would this be the reason it is not metioned ?

[unterhund]

Is it possible that there was a confusion between Attu and Kiska? I have done an enormous amount of research regarding the Kiska operation and have found zero reports of enemy contact. My father found the bodies of several Japanese personnel, from one of whom he took a Colt .32 pistol. From the collar of another he took the rank insignia, which he mailed to my mother. I have the maps he used in the operation, on which he drew the course his platoon took while searching the island for the enemy. He covered a LOT of ground, and he found no live Japanese. I have attached here a picture of one of the .32 ACP cartridges he found with the pistol. The ammunition was made in Czechoslavakia. Dad carried the pistol for the duration of the war, but it was lost when his footlocker broke through a cargo net while being unloaded in Inchon Harbor during the Korean occupation in September 1945. Dad still managed to save many other mementos and this round is one of them.

[chcole1]

Truly amazing stuff guys.

 

Chris

[unterhund]

My father was adamant that no one in his platoon fired their weapons on Kiska indiscriminately. His regiment, the 17th Infantry, was the only unit in Operation COTTAGE that had prior combat experience, on Attu three months before. Dad was shipped to the Aleutians in July of 1943, one of many replacements for the 7th Division to fill its ranks for the assault on Kiska. He was an OCS graduate whose first assignment as a lieutenant was with the newly-formed 104th Division at Camp Adair, in Oregon's Willamette Valley. Months of training frustrated him and he applied three different times for transfer to any infantry unit in action overseas. His wish was granted in June of 1943, and off he went to the Aleutians, shipping out of Seattle and through the Inside Passage to Alaska.

 

He stopped in Valdez and Dutch Harbor before joining his new unit, then training for COTTAGE on Adak Island. He was there for the amphibious rehearsal on Great Sitkin Island, a volcanic isle near Adak. He served alongside some French Canadian engineers in the Regiment De Hull, commanded by the hero of Dieppe, LTC Dollard Menard. In September of 1943, his division shipped to Hawaii for participation in Admiral Nimitz's Central Pacific drive.

 

Amongst his mementos I found a receipt for a soda pop bottle deposit given to him at Dutch Harbor, and also a small photo of some Japanese serviceman's family that he obtained from a dead body on Kiska. I am very fortunate that he managed to save so many souvenirs over the course of the war and his subsequent Cold War career as an infantry officer.

 

Here is the soda pop receipt.

[unterhund]

And here is the snapshot he found on Kiska. Who knows what happened to these people, and how long they waited for news of their loved one? Upon arrival at Adak, Dad described the enemy in a letter to his brother as "monkey men." He told me that after he found this photo, he realized that his enemy was just as human as himself.

 

Sorry that I hijacked this discussion of shoulder patches. My best to all.

[unterhund]

I revisited my copious notes about Operation COTTAGE and found that, in addition to several episodes of friendly-fire, there were many dubious claims made by members of ATF9. Even Colonel Frederick of the 1st SSF reported personally finding an open tin of milk that still tasted sweet. And of course, there is the better-known tale of hot coffee being found on a stove, which, combined with the reports of abandoned dogs, led Admiral King to say to Secretary Knox, "the Japs are very clever; they've even trained their dogs to brew coffee."

 

Churchill was at the time meeting with Roosevelt at the first Quebec conference and at least once entered the conference's map room, stirring his coffee and saying, "Woof, woof!"

 

Post-war interviews with captured Japanese officers revealed that the evacuation was complete and amazingly well-planned and executed. I am ready--indeed eager--to hear substantiated reports of actual contact with live Japanese personnel on Kiska. I will not discredit out-of-hand any story told by a veteran. I admit the possibility that an atrocity was committed on captured Japanese and covered up, but the search for intelligence on the island was VERY thorough, and anything of any conceivable value was reported, if only to alleviate embarrassment for Admiral Kinkaid. He gave the go-ahead for the operation despite speculation by his staff that the island had already been evacuated. Generals Buckner and Holland Smith, AAF Colonel Eareckson, and some lower-ranking officers were dubious about an enemy presence. Buckner and Smith both suggested a pre-op reconnaissance by Alaskan Scouts and the 1st SSF, which Kinkaid disallowed. There was even a betting pool on the number of Japanese to be found on the island, which was won by a photographer in Steichen's naval photographic unit, who bet on zero.

 

Admiral King strangely faulted Admiral Rockwell, who was in direct command of COTTAGE, for the unopposed evacuation, and transferred him afterwards back to the states to command one of the amphibious schools. Yet, in my opinion, if anyone was responsible for the Japanese escape, it was Kinkaid, who was in overall command, and had authority over the supposedly impenetrable blockade of the island. The blockade had been suspended after the infamous "Battle of the Pips," in which U.S. Navy engaged a non-existent enemy and consequently opened a hole in the blockade. In that brief window, the Japanese evacuated, aided as much by the dynamic Aleutian weather as by the hole in Kinkaid's fleet.

[patches]

Thank you unterrhund for your work here. Do you ever remember or recall hearing about a Japanese made Docudrama on the Japanese Marines on Kiska ? this being a early 1970 film, I seen it years and years ago, I never forget the ending, of the Navy landing Troops Commander standing on one of the evacuation ships looking towards the island as both vessal and island slowly disapears into the fog.

[notinfringed]

Here is a link to Alaska's digital Archives. Most of the pictures of Kiska I believe are housed at the University Of Alaska Fairbanks, Rasmuson Library.

 

http://vilda.alaska.edu/cdm4/results.php?C...OOT=all&t=s

 

This is a good picture of part of the landing, hard to see the insignia though:

 

http://vilda.alaska.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.p...2506&REC=14

 

I know I found some better pictures on their site once before, showing the kiska attack force patch worn on both sleeves, but I cant seem to find them now. Hope this helps.

Levi

[unterhund]

Mifune Toshiro starred in a 1965 Japanese film depicting the evacuation, but I have not seen it. It goes by different titles; "Retreat From Kiska," and "Miraculous Military Operation in the Pacific" among them. During the war, the leaders in Tokyo tried to make the most of the disastrous over-extension of their forces that the operations in the Aleutians represented. The nearly-complete annihilation of the men on Attu, including the climactic Banzai charge, was celebrated as the very definition of heroism and loyalty to the Emperor. The admittedly impressive escape from Kiska, under Kinkaid's nose, was also honored as an example of the greatness of the Emperor's forces.

 

As the last Japanese boarded the evacuation ships, pre-timed explosions destroyed the island's radar (which had been recovered from the British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and was the first radar the Japanese had a chance to examine and deploy in their own service), the escaping men shouted "Banzai" and cheered for their comrades lost on Attu and those lost on Kiska during American bombing raids.

 

My research revealed, at least to myself, an interesting coincidence: Admiral Akiyama Monzo, commander of the fleeing garrison, and who helped planned the Kiska evacuation, was rewarded for the "success" of that action by being given command of Kwajalein Atoll. The southern portion of the atoll was seized by the 7th Division under General "Cowboy Pete" Corlett in February of 1944. It was units of the 7th Division, supplemented by others, and under command of Cowboy Pete, that had missed the chance to capture Admiral Akiyama months previously on Kiska. Akiyama was killed on Kwajalein Island, by either naval or Army artillery bombardment. I sometimes wonder if Corlett had a chance to view the body of his two-time opponent. I have read that Corlett presented Admiral R. K. "Terrible" Turner with a Japanese sword after Kwajalein was secured. It would have been appropriate if the sword had been Akiyama's, but that detail is lost to history.