​USAAF - 11th Air Force Attu Island 1944

About

 

 

This sites displays the wartime photos of Bruno Kozlowski (1920-1984). Drafted in October 1941. He volunteered for the US Army Air Force and was discharged in 1945. During his enlistment he attained the rank of  Technical Sergeant. During his enlistment he spent the period of October 1943 to January 1945 on Attu Island in the Aleutian Islands. It is during this period that these photographs were taken.

 

He was a flight engineer on the Martin B-26 Marauder. His stateside training included using the B-26 to drop torpedoes. On Attu he was assigned to the 28th Bomb Group, 15th Target Tow Squadron of the 11th air force. There his aircraft was a variant of the B-26C designated as the Martin AT-23B/TB-26C Marauder.

 

Wherever possible I have included some commentary from what I have read or I recall from his stories.

 

Attu Island is western most of the Aleutian chain. It and Kiska were the only 2 Aleutian Islands occupied by the Japanese during WWII. Attu was taken back after bitter fighting by US Army troops. That accounts for the US cemetery and the Japanese equipment left behind. The Japanese evacuated Kiska without resistance.

 

The period of these photos is after the islands recapture and during its subsequent US occupation. Nothing historically "heroic" occurred then but like anywhere else during the war, conditions could be hostile, planes crashed during routine take off and landings, and planes left and were never heard from again.

 

A good book about Attu Island and the conditions faced there is "The Last Flight of Bomber 31: Harrowing Tales of American and Japanese Pilots Who Fought In World War II's Arctic" by Ralph Wetterhahn. I believe that photos of the US Navy Lockheed PV-1 Ventura bombers on this site are the planes that were involved in the raids detailed in that book.

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A more recent and highly readable book is "Awaiting the Sun: WWII Veterans Remember the Aleutians" by Bil Paul 2022. It covers the exciting as well as the mundane experience of being stationed at a remote posting during a war. I was enlightened as it gives background information of conditions there that helped explain some of the stories that my dad told me. https://www.amazon.com/Awaiting-Sun-Veterans-Remember-Aleutians/dp/0764365185

 

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