Attu Boy: A Young Alaskan’s WWII Memoir

Description

In the quiet of morning| exactly six months after Pearl Harbor| the Japanese touched down on American soil. Landing on the remote Alaska island of Attu| they assailed an entire village| holding the Alaskan villagers for two months and eventually corralling all survivors into a freighter bound for Japan.
One of those survivors| Nick Golodoff| became a prisoner of war at just six years old. He was among the dozens of Unangan Attu residents swept away to Hokkaido| and one of only twenty-five to survive. “Attu Boy” tells Golodoff’s story of these harrowing years as he found both friendship and cruelty at the hands of the Japanese. It offers a rare look at the lives of civilian prisoners and their captors in WWII-era Japan. It also tells of Golodoff’s bittersweet return to a homeland torn apart by occupation and forced internments. Interwoven with other voices from Attu| this richly illustrated memoir is a testament to the struggles| triumphs| and heartbreak of lives disrupted by war.