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description: Rare and classic photos, many of them in color, chronicling the day-to-day existence of Allied troops during a little-known WWII campaign.
title: Aleutian Islands Campaign: Rare and Classic Photos From WWII
image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77332b09cbe5dd46/69884781a988ca3cef6b1a0e/01_1163294881.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9
---
# LIFE in the Aleutians: Rare Photos From World War II's Forgotten Front
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[Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/)
## Ben Cosgrove
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May 24, 2012 9:47 PM CUT
Not published in LIFE. Grave marker, Aleutian Islands, 1943.
Not published in LIFE. Grave marker, Aleutian Islands, 1943.Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
by
[Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/)
## Ben Cosgrove
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May 24, 2012 9:47 PM CUT
Maybe it’s because the casualties, in relative terms, were light compared to those suffered in other theaters of conflict during World War II. Or perhaps the isolated front was destined to a gradual, ever-deepening obscurity because no storied battles with stirring names (Iwo Jima, Bastogne, Normandy, Saipan) were fought there. Or maybe it’s simply that, like countless other narratives in countless other wars, the story of the [Aleutian Islands Campaign](http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-aleutian-islands "undefined") was gradually forgotten by those who did not fight or serve there, or by those families that did not lose a loved one there.
But in the early 1940s the Aleutian Campaign was news throughout the U.S. , as some of the islands in the North Pacific, in what was then the American territory of Alaska, had been invaded and occupied by Japanese troops. Was it a diversion ahead of another, critical attack elsewhere? Was it the vanguard of a far larger assault on America’s enormous, and perhaps fatally vulnerable, west coast?
Here, 70 years after Japanese forces seized control of Attu and Kiska islands early in the war, LIFE.com presents a gallery of photos—most of which never ran in LIFE magazine— by Dmitri Kessel chronicling the day-to-day existence of Allied troops serving in the dramatic and forbidding landscape of the Aleutians.
Ultimately, long before the war was over, the Japanese were routed from the islands they did occupy. But Allied casualties (U.S. and Canadian) during the year-long campaign to push them off of American territory were in the thousands, with a grim percentage killed or severely wounded by the same hazards that troops have always faced when fighting in a wilderness thousands of miles from home: friendly fire; exposure; minor wounds that turn mortal when transportation proves impossible.
And then there was the fatigue; the sheer lethargy-inducing sameness of the place. The old characterization of warfare as long stretches of boredom punctuated by moments of terror might have been coined especially for the Aleutian campaign. Even the most adamant and dedicated nature lover could hardly remain enthralled, month after month after month, by the surroundings—endless snow-capped mountains, mud-filled tundra and water, water everywhere. As LIFE pointed out to its readers in the midst of the war, the weather and the landscape were relentless, monotonous enemies all their own:
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Kessel’s pictures, meanwhile, suggest that despite the spartan lodgings, the often impassable terrain, the questionable food, the tricky climate, the grueling work and the ceaselessly challenging environment, thousands of troops, nurses and even some civilians stuck with it throughout the war years, and they made do.
In often primitive conditions, in one of the most unforgiving environments on Earth, they did what was asked of them. They are not forgotten.
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_Ben Cosgrove is the Editor of LIFE.com_
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Not published in LIFE. Grave marker, Aleutian Islands, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The rocky peaks of Attu Island, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Aleutian Islands Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. A P-38 Lightning above the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Dutch Harbor, Aleutian Islands, WWII, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. American troops, Aleutian Islands, WWII, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Tents housing Seabees (members of the U.S. Navy's Construction Battalion), Adak Island during World War II, 1943\. Among the first to land on Adak, Attu, Kiska and Amchitka, the Seabees -- carpenters, mechanics, electricians, welders boilerman, and plumbers -- built airfields, roads, barracks and wharves. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Dutch Harbor, Aleutian Islands, WWII, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Aleutian Islands Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
On the island of Kiska, men build fires near wrecked equipment and cook their meals, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. The remains of a Japanese soldier, Aleutian Islands Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Aleutian Islands Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Attu Island, Aleutian Campaign, World War II, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Attu Island, Aleutian Campaign, World War II, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Kiska Island, Aleutian Campaign, World War II, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
An American soldier leans against a wall in the captured Japanese headquarters on Kiska Island, beside graffiti caricatures of FDR and Churchill (left), 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Barracks, Aleutian Islands Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Unidentified military personnel, Aleutian Islands Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Mail transports, Aleutian Islands Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. In barracks, Aleutian Islands Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Laundry, Aleutian Islands Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Aleutian Islands Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Aleutian Islands Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Bathing in halved oil drums, Amchitka Island, Aleutian Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Showering, Aleutian Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. R & R, Aleutian Islands Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. R & R, Dutch Harbor, Aleutian Islands Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Makeshift soda fountain, Adak Island, Aleutian Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Playing chess, Adak Island, Aleutian Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Pin-up photos adorn the walls of a bomber-crew shack on Adak Island, Aleutian Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. An American nurse, Aleutian Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Nurses' quarters, Aleutian Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Nurses fishing, Dutch Harbor, Aleutian Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Gardening with a teaspoon, Aleutian Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Attu Island, American infantry camp, 1943\. A hand-written note in LIFE's archives regarding this picture reads: "Because mess hall is too small, some men must eat outside." Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. A Seabee (of the U.S. Navy's Construction Battalion) strings wire for communications on the island of Adak, Aleutian Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
American troops are carted by tractor to the movies from an isolated camp in Massacre Valley, Attu Island, Aleutian Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Seabee carpenters (of the U.S. Navy's Construction Battalion), Aleutian Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. "A fake tree built by the Army Engineers, Camouflage Division, on Attu Island." Aleutian Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. American troops study stone and bone implements and other objects recovered from an earlier settlement, Aleutian Islands Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. The "Press Club" on Adak Island, Aleutian Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Inside the "Press Club" on Adak Island, Aleutian Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Street sign in the town of Unalaska during World War II, Aleutian Islands Campaign, Alaska, 1943. Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
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