A Retrspective Tribute to the Alaska Territotial Guard

When I was a young lawyer in Alaska many years ago, I took my young children to see the Fur Rondy Parade in Anchorage.  Conditions were not ideal on that winter day. The sky was overcast, and the temperature had dropped to 20 degrees below zero.  

The day was so cold that the marching bands sheltered inside moving school buses.  Band members would open the bus windows and stick their horns out into the frigid air just long enough to complete a tune. Then they would retract their instruments and slam the windows shut.

I judged the weather too harsh for my children to endure, so I parked the family car in an alley where we could view the parade without leaving our vehicle.

Parade participants were bundled up in arctic gear. I recall the beauty queens perched on the hoods of fancy automobiles. Their skirts were short, but their legs were encased in insulated survival pants.

About halfway through the parade, I saw a platoon of Alaska National Guard soldiers wheel around a corner, marching briskly with their M-1 rifles at port arms. They were all wearing camouflaged white jump suits, and they wore fur caps on their heads. They did not look like they were cold.

All the soldiers in that platoon were Alaska Natives, mostly Inuit, the best I could tell, and some Athabaskans.

I was suddenly moved by a burst of patriotism, and I admired these men who had sworn to defend Alaska with their lives. Did they have grievances against the white outsiders who took over their ancestral land and hauled away its natural resources--timber, gold, copper, and oil?

Perhaps they did, but on that cold day, their rugged, patriotic spirit was all I could see, and all that the soldiers wished to communicate.

Before Alaska achieved statehood in 1959, the Alaska National Guard was called the Alaska Territorial Guard. During World War II, the Inuit and Athabaskans were called up and armed to defend against the Japanese invaders who had gained a foothold in the Aleutian Islands.

I doubt that a single Alaska Territorial Guardsman held back or asked why he should risk his life in defense of the United States. Like young men all over America who enlisted in the military after Pearl Harbor, the Natives stepped up to do a dangerous job that had to be done.

President Trump will soon meet President Vladimir Putin at Elmendorf Air Force Base on the outskirts of Anchorage, Alaska. The two world leaders will search for a way to end the war in Ukraine.

It is a fitting place to meet, for American territory comes closest to Mother Russia in Alaska. Indeed, the nations are less than 3 miles apart in the Bering Straits, and the distance can be walked when the Bering Sea freezes over in winter.

Americans should pray for peace as Presidents Trump and Putin meet this week. They should also say a prayer of gratitude for the Alaska Territorial Guardsmen who rose to their duty during the Second World War.