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Schoenbar Middle School students wrapped the school year with a project designed to commemorate the World War II Aleut relocation camp that once operated at Ward Lake.
To understand the history of relocation camps in Southeast Alaska â including the Ketchikan area â more than 200 seventh- and eighth-graders across three English classes at Schoenbar read the book Aleutian Sparrow by Karen Hesse, a historical fiction novel written in verse about the Ward Lake camp that was opened in the early 1940s for the relocation of Aleut individuals.
According to archives from the National Park Service, Aleut individuals were evacuated from the Aleutian Islands chain as U.S. and Japanese militaries continued to clash during WWII, following the attack on Dutch Harbor and other sites in the Aleutian Chain in summer 1942.
A bill that protects the graves of Unangax people in southeast Alaska awaits a signature from Gov. Mike Dunleavy after both chambers of the Alaska Legislature approved the measure.
Bill protecting Alaska Native cemetery advances to governor
May 28, 2021
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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP)
A bill that protects the graves of Unangax people in southeast Alaska awaits a signature from Gov. Mike Dunleavy after both chambers of the Alaska Legislature approved the measure.
The Unangax cemetery holds more than 30 graves of people who died at Funter Bay during World War II. They were relocated to two internment camps there from the Aleutian islands by U.S. forces after the Japanese military invaded.
They spent much of the war at the remote spot on the western side of Admiralty Island, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Juneau, and, more than 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) from their homes in the Aleutian islands.