After 70 Years, Only Unangax̂/Aleut KIA in WW2 Gets Honors

Army Private First Class George Fox was a brave Aleut warrior - Unangax/Aleut - the only one known to be killed-in-action during World War Two.  Fox was awarded a Purple Heart, but his proud name is not etched in granite on any of the Alaska military memorials or even on a headstone.

For over 70 years, each Memorial Day respected elder Gertrude Svarny has dutifully placed a small American flag in the dense moss that blankets where George was laid to rest in the Russian Orthodox church cemetery on the east edge of Unalaska Village.

The oversight of honors that should have been bestowed on Fox will soon be rectified due to years of research and action taken by a handful of dedicated Alaskans. Although Fox’s story is unique, it illustrates the challenges faced by our Greatest Generation.

George was born 20 January 1920, the ninth child of 31-year-old Unangax̂ Aleut villager Emma Nellie (Gardner) Fox and 43-year-old Englishman, Thomas Fox, who moved to Alaska after serving in Her Majesty’s Navy. Three of the couple’s young children died of influenza that same year, as the epidemic ravaged the territory of Alaska wiping out entire village populations.

The Fox family lived in a cabin on the north side of McCann’s Point, just outside of Unga Village on Unga Island, a place with a beautiful view of Delarof Harbour. After 500,000 tons of ore was produced, flooding closed the gold mine, and Unga eventually become a ghost town. The family moved to the bustling seaport of Unalaska. 

Two days after turning 21, George Fox registered for the Army in 1941 - nearly a year before Pearl Harbor was bombed. 

The Army Registrar noted that George was 5’7” tall, 160 pounds, with brown eyes, black hair and a ruddy complexion. Fox initially identified as an Indian on the Registrar’s Report, but then scratched that out and leaned-in to his father’s Northern European linage before signing his name in a clean and decisive script.

Emma Gardner passed away three months after George registered for military service, so his next-of-kin contact was switched to his married sister who lived in Berkeley, California.

In early June of the next year, Japanese planes bombed Unalaska for two days. In her personal history, George’s oldest sister, CIRI Elder-of-the-Year Katherine Kashevaroff, related how her five-year-old son Norman came running in screaming, “They are tooting at us! They are tooting at us!!” before the family took to the island’s rugged hills for protection.

Katie recalled that the villagers were only allowed to take one suitcase each when they were evacuated by the US military for their safety. More than 800 Aleut - nine villages on six islands - were relocated 1,500 miles away to an abandoned cannery and a rundown gold mine camp in Southeast Alaska. One-in-ten would die from food shortages, pneumonia, and tuberculosis. 

The women and children of the Fox family were fortunate and able to make their way stateside to Washington and California. When the war was over in 1944, the family returned to Unalaska to find their home in shambles.

George’s father stayed back and served in the Unga Unit, alongside 6,300 other unpaid volunteers in the Alaska Territorial Guard. From June 1942 until it was officially disbanded in March of 1947, the Eskimo Scouts played a defensive role - averaging just under one scout for each mile of the coast of Alaska. Scouts were recruited from over a hundred communities and actively promoted equal treatment for all, regardless of race.

Private George Fox was assigned to Company G, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th division - which consisted mostly of nationalized Oklahoma National Guard fighting men called the Tomahawks. They were one of the first National Guard units activated in World War II - putting their shoulder to the wheel the same time that Fox enlisted. George served as military police in Africa before being moved to Italy - where the Tomahawks took part in intense fighting during the invasion of Sicily and the attack on Salerno in the 1943 Italian Campaign.

Two weeks before he was killed, George wrote his father from the Anzio Beach Head, asking about the Bristol Bay fishing season and the price of salmon. He lamented that he had missed three seasons and would sure like to be fishing again.

“I’m transferred into the “Infantry” and seeing some action,” George wrote. 

He was part of the battle of Anzio, which was intended as a daring outflanking move that would open the way for the capture of Rome. Unfortunately, for a while during Operation Shingle the Allies were unable to drive forward and the Germans were unable to push the invaders back to the sea - creating a gridlock responsible for the deaths of 7,000 Allied and 5,000 German troops.

In fierce combat the Allies advanced, fighting their way along the coast from the Gustav Line, along the right hand side of the Alban Hills, then taking Route 6 to Rome.

Hospital records indicate “casualty, battle” was the reason that Fox was admitted and then immediately discharged from service. 24-year-old George Fox died on 1 June 1944 in Ardea, Italy, a mere 22 miles from the Italian capital. 

On June 2nd, the Caesar Line collapsed and Hitler ordered no defense of Rome. In the early hours of June 4th, the Americans marched into Italy’s largest city unopposed. The men of Fox’s 45th Division were the first Allied troops to reach the Vatican.

A great photo op, but a strategic disaster. The mission failed in its objective of destroying the German 10th and 14th Armies, condemned the Allies to another bloody year of Italian combat. 

At a critical moment, General Mark Clark re-directed the Fifth Army north towards Rome instead of cutting the German’s escape route and closing the trap that Sir Winston Churchill himself had set. 

“General Mark Clark was so eager that the world should see pictures showing him as the liberator of Rome, that he allowed the armies of a delighted Kesselring to escape. He had ignored the orders of Field Marshall Alexander in a decision as militarily stupid as it was insubordinate. This, vain-glorious blunder, the worst of the entire war, lost us a stunning victory, lengthened the war by many months and earned Mark Clark the contempt of other American and British generals. They saw an operation that could have won the war in Italy, thrown away at the cost of many Allied lives, because of the obsession and vanity of one man. If General Mark Clark had been in the German Army, Hitler would have had him shot,” later stated British war correspondent Alan Whicker, who was present during the fighting. 

Honor States suggests that George Fox was awarded the Purple Heart medal, and is eligible for the Army Good Conduct medal, American Campaign medal, Euro-African-Middle Eastern Campaign medal, World War II Victory medal, and Presidential Unit Citation ribbon.

After the war ended, in June 1945, Private Fox’s remains were shipped to his sister Mae Fox-Koski in California. That community received official credit for the loss, which is probably why attaching Fox’s records to Alaska’s statistics was a long time coming.

The remains of US Army Private First Class George Fox, serial number 39837801, were forwarded to Unalaska for burial in April 1949. Military funeral services were attended by Alaska Communication System (ACS) Commanding Officer Captain George M. Snead from Adak and held at the Russian Orthodox church. ACS operator Samuel Svarny acted as Color-Bearer in the mile-long march from town to the cemetery. Svarny’s wife has been placing a flag on Fox’s grave each Memorial Day for over seven decades.

With sponsorship from the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association and support from Senator Dan Sullivan, on May 26, 2021 the US Department of Veterans Affairs approved an order for a traditional upright granite gravestone for George Fox. It is expected to arrive on or before June 14.

Common Sense Solutions to Public Policy Problems

 

In the United States, politicians and pundits are now more focused on demonizing their fellow citizens than on prosecuting the nation’s business for the benefit of all Americans. Author David Gottstein’s A More Perfect Union - Unifying Ideas for a Divided America offers common sense ideas and fresh, innovative concepts that just might work.

Gottstein’s solutions could bring America back to the country we idealize - working families able to support themselves with food, shelter, transportation and basic health care without government assistance, a healthy environment, and affordable access to clean, sustainable energy. 

Gottstein boils down the complex public policy issues of social security and taxation to a meat and potatoes proposition that feeds everyone fairly. Crime and punishment is served up to meet the needs of atonement instead of vengeance, so those reintegrating into society can make meaningful contributions.

America’s place in the world is also analyzed, with generous, easy-to-understand explanations of the complex relationships between nation states, how we came to be where we are at, and guidance on how to proceed for a secure, peaceful, and more prosperous world.

A compact volume of clear, concise, well-formulated concepts, A More Perfect Union - Unifying Ideas for a Divided America is an important springboard for determining unique, disruptive solutions to issues that have festered for generations.

A message of hope for anyone experiencing public policy fatigue, feeling overwhelmed by huge political problems that need to be resolved soon, and the deep muddy ruts that have taken over the Washington DC beltway.

Keeping that Brooder Warm, Alaskhens Survey of Heat Sources

We’ve tried just about everything on the market and then some really imaginative things of my own to keep newborn chicks warm and happy. Here is what I have discovered:

1) If you have in-floor radiant heat, putting the chicks in a plastic tub directly over a floor pipe in a non-drafty place like a bathroom is fabulous. They are happy running around, no loud peeping. You can easily see them through the clear plastic and clean up is a breeze - just dump out the floor litter,  hose out the tub, give it a good disinfecting and you are ready for the next hatch. No bother, no extra cost, no worrying when the power goes off because the floor will stay warm for hours and the placement of a folded towel on top of the bin will keep the heat in until the linemen get their job done - God bless them, love the linemen! Heating pads that go under the brooder have the same appeal and function.

2) This summer I tried the Rent-a-Coop heating plate which has easier legs to adjust than some of the similar products, and I hated it at first but now the utility of the plastic topper has made me a fan - no birds exploring the top of the heating plate means no angst in cleaning poo off an electrical device. Worth the investment, you will save in electric costs over the long run as the unit uses 15 watts instead of the 250 watts of a red heat bulb.  I purchased mine directly from the manufacturer at this link, https://shoprentacoop.com/products/hp-1624-16x24-heater-plate. I make my legs shorter at the back end of the unit than at the front so the chicks can move around to their heat preference - no worries about them getting burnt the underside of the plate doesn’t get warm enough to cause them harm. It’s nice because you can easily adjust the legs from teenie tiny quail chicks to big old Brahma chicks in under thirty seconds.

3) Incandescent light bulbs. At an appropriate wattage for the area they work just fine in keeping the chicks warm - but they also collect dust which in an unfortunate situation can cause fires. And they have to be constantly on which means that the chicks never get a solid nights sleep in a dark space - and I am all about offering animals the most positive experience that can be reasonably accommodated while they are under my care.  Nice thing about the bulbs is that you can adjust the heat by switching out to a lower wattage bulb as the chicks gain feathers, and they are relatively inexpensive to buy. I used my reject bulbs from when I switched over to LEDs.  Just be careful that you don’t use an LED over chicks - the point to is offer them heat not light and LEDs don’t emit much heat.

4) Red heat bulbs.  They are expensive and they are the cause of most coop fires, but at the end of the day they are a quick way to get a large area warm fast - important if you just got an delivery of a couple hundred chicks.  I think the problem is that most folks may not realize that these large bulbs are really overkill for a brooder with half-a-dozen chicks in it - and may actually heat stress their chicks by using a big red bulb, normally in a silver bell hosing clipped above the brooder.  If you are going to use one of these babies, see what you can do to put a safety net between it and the birds.  A frame of hardware cloth or chicken wire can be a life saver should the unit break or fall, nothing worse that losing a favorite chick to an avoidable accident. 

Alaska's State Flag, Flies Half-Masted On Alaska State Flag Day

Most every year July 9th is a cause for celebration in Anchorage. On Alaska Flag Day large crowds gather at Alaska Family & Child, the oldest non-profit in the state, which started as the Jesse Lee Home for Children. The governor usually speaks about a 13-year-old boy named Benny Benson designing Alaska's state flag. Families enjoy bar-be-que dinner, lawn games, live music, and celebrate the simple flag of the last frontier - the only state flag in America designed by a child, and the only one designed by a Native American.

In Seward, the flagpole in front of the historic Jesse Lee Home is always shockingly bare, the bronze memorial plaque commemorating the place our proud Alaska state flag was designed, sewn, and first flown is so neglected and forgotten by the City of Seward that the Seward City Council is considering a resolution next week to create a memorial with a commemorating bronze plaque and flagpole at the exact same site.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Jesse Lee Home holds a proud and important history, for Benny Benson was Alaska Native, and the award of his design as the official flag of what was then the territory of Alaska lite a spark in the Alaska Native Rights movement that created a non-violent tsunami of change that ended in the securing of civil rights and a settlement act from Congress for the lands taken from them. 

A letter from the Alaska Native Brotherhood Grand President told Benson, "We want you to know that by winning the contest for the best design for a flag of Alaska in open competition with all the public schools of Alaska and from the best minds amongst our more favored race, the white race, you have greatly encouraged the Natives of Southeast Alaska."

The first Alaska Native to serve in the legislature, Representative William L. Paul wrote Benson to congratulate him, and give great credit to the Jesse Lee Home for giving Alaska Native kids a chance. "Altogether, this should encourage the native races in Alaska to enter competition with others," Paul said, "to do so without fear, and to stick to it until we win something. Native Alaskans won the first, second, and third prizes, and a native wrote the law which adopted the flag."

Most children came from the Aleutian Islands or the Seward Peninsula but children from all races and regions were represented. Unlike BIA Native Schools, the Jesse Lee Home was opened with a mandate that was considered shocking in a day when storefront windows bore signs stating "No Natives, No Dogs" and Alaska Natives just received United States citizenship and the right to vote. Within the strong walls of the Jesse Lee Home all would be treated equal regardless of race, and it would be run as a home with as little institutionalization as possible. .Jesse Lee Home residents were encouraged to go to college, get vocational training, and become leaders in their communities.

It's sad and irony that at a time when the nation is reviewing its cultural values and its relationship to history, demolishing the Jesse Lee Home on an expedited schedule this summer is a resolution on the Seward City Council agenda this Monday. 

The State of Alaska spent just over $2M stabilizing the nearly 100-year-old timber-frame and stucco building. The architectural and engineering plans for renovation are 80% completed, and an appropriate sustainable purpose - a new statewide one-semester leadership charter school that would introduce high school juniors to the nationally recognized vocational education opportunities at the Alaska Vocational and Technolgy Center (AVTEC) was also put on the shelf 80% completed. The Legislature has twice passed bills authorizing the State of Alaska to acquire, develop, and manage the Jesse Lee Home property.

The vision of the Parnell Administration was not received well by the Walker Administration. Funding for the Jesse Lee Home that had been set aside in the State coffers to match federal grants was reallocated to the Department of Transportation. 

The legislature set some funds aside to maintain the stabilization of the building, and the City of Seward is intending on using that $1.25M to demolish the buildings under the pretense that the most efficient way to remove asbestos dust from the crawlspace under the building is not to seal it in concrete, as previously planned, but to knock the buildings down so it is easier to gain access to the basement.

Like most children who were at the Jesse Lee Home, Benny Benson was not an orphan. When he was three pandemic Spanish influenza swept through Chignik, and his mother died from pneumonia. The family home burned down shortly after, and Benson's father had to make the difficult choice to place Benny and his brother at the Jesse Lee Home until he could get back on his feet.  Ada Blackjack Johnson, the first heroine of Arctic Exploration, placed her two boys there as well under similar hardship. 

As the Seward Sanitarium filled with tuberculous patients, their children filled the Jesse Lee. The top floor of the ocean-facing wing of the Jewel Guard Hall, the space with the best view, was set aside for children stricken with tuberculosis.  The Jesse Lee Home was used as an example of how Alaska could take care of social needs when the territory was applying for statehood. 

The Home's values of self-sufficiency, innovation, work ethic, and independence were key to the success of its residents who went on to found what is now known as Alaska Pacific University, and hold records from being the first Alaska Native to receive a doctorate to the youngest, fastest and only three-time consecutive Mount Marathon race winner, and, of course, design the flag that is so dear to Alaskans that Marie Drake wrote a song about it.

Drake, a secretary in the Territorial Department of Education, was present at 4:00 pm on July 9, 1927, and watched as Benny Benson attached the silk flag handsewn by Jesse Lee Home seamstress Fannie "Pineapple" Keans to the halyards. Eight gold stars were hoisted for the first time into the blue skies above the Jesse Lee Home, saluted by the Home's boy scout troop.

In 1997, the Alaska Legislature passed Senator Arliss Sturgulewski declaring July 9th to be Alaska Flag Day. At the opening of the Alaska State Museum exhibit commemorating the 75th anniversary of the flag’s adoption, Alaska Lieutenant Governor Fran Ulmer said,  “Benny Benson made a tremendous impact on Alaska history when he submitted his entry that featured the Big Dipper and the North Star. His story is a wonderful example of how one young person can really make a difference. The flag story continues to remind us of the importance of listening to the ideas and opinions of young people.”

The Jesse Lee Home is listed on the Alaska Association for Historic Preservations' Ten Most Endangered 
Properties list, and the organization has expressed interest in taking on the project. President Trish Neal reached out to the Seward Administration and Mayor, but was not granted an audience with the Seward City Council to make a presentation on the project. 

The Seward Historic Preservation Committee passed a resolution in support of renovating the structures, but they were not granted a work session to put their ideas forward to the Seward City Council. Instead, at the recommendation of the City Manager who expressed a need to get the buildings demolished as quickly as possible, Seward Mayor Christy Terry asked the City Manager to draw up a resolution to tear down the buildings for the city council's consideration at the next meeting, July 13th at 7:00 pm.

The City of Seward has ended up in an adversarial relationship with every entity, public and private, that has tried to develop the property since it was deeded to the City from the Methodist Church after the 1965 earthquake, its mission relocated to Anchorage with Alaska Family & Child. 

The life-sized evergreens that were painted to camouflage the buildings still whisper through the paint. During World War 2, hundreds of soldiers camped at Fort Raymond Army base with the Jesse Lee Home serving as the Command Center. Seward was the endpoint to Alaska's supply chain. 

Just as Fort Raymond has all but disappeared from the public's memory, so to shall the lessons championed by the Jesse Lee Home be forgotten as Alaskans turn their back on their heritage.

Juneau Report 1:1 Senator Dave Wilson Alaska State Council on the Arts

The Alaska State Council on the Arts oversees a 700 contemporary art bank.  At any given time over half of its holdings are out on load and can be found in places like state-owned buildings and our representative's offices in Juneau and Washington DC.

New Works are acquired through the One Percent for Art Program.  We spoke to Wasilla Senator Dave Wilson in an exclusive one-on-one interview about his bill which shuts the One Percent for Art Program down.  Last year, the Alaska State Council on the Arts last key staff and was closed for six weeks after all of its funding was vetoed by Governor Dunleavy.  Just 18% of the program funding comes from the general fund - over 80% from a mix of federal and foundation dollars that the state isn't allowed to spend any other way.

Juneau Report 1:1 Senator Click Bishop Mining Claims

It's the second largest industry in Alaska with the bulk of mining interests on state land generating revenue through taxes, rents, and royalties as well of jobs that are often in remote locations that lack better alternatives.

 But if miners make the slightest error in filling out a form filed annually with the Department of Natural Resources - millions of dollars in investments - mines that have been in a family and passed down for generations - can be lost with no recourse for the claim holder.

 We sat down with Fairbanks Senator Click Bishop in an exclusive one-on-one to talk about his bill which makes the draconian standard more reasonable and lowers the risk so that no more livelihoods are lost based on an honest mistake.

 Under the current system, if a mistake is made there is no opportunity to correct it, the claim is irredeemably lost at the moment it is recorded.

Additionally, if the smallest mistake is discovered on a past affidavit, even if it is decades old, ongoing operations can immediately be trespassed with equipment seized and buildings bulldozed down by the State. The bill passed the House and the Senate and is waiting to be transmitted to the Governor's desk.

Juneau Report 1:1 Wielechowski 90/10 split on Federal Oil & Gas in Alaska

The State went into recess over the weekend, but they have plenty of work to do when they reconvene - including getting the state more revenue. $880 million dollars, that is the amount that Anchorage Senator Bill Wielechowski says Alaska is losing in the near term because the US government isn't living up to its side of the bargain it made at statehood - a 90/10 split. Ernest Gruening who was an appointed governor of Alaska and one of our state's first US Senators - a decade after statehood wrote, "most helpful was the provision that ninety percent of royalties and net profits from oil, gas and mineral leases on the public domain would go to Alaska."

Juneau Report 1:1 Senator Mia Costello/Smart Start

Getting up hours before the crack of dawn may no longer be part of the Alaskan High School student experience.  We spoke to Senator Mia Costello in an exclusive one-on-one interview about her proposition to get smart about when school should start.

Senate Bill 149 will be heard in the Education Committee before being referred to Finance.

Juneau Report 1:1 Representative Gary Knopp/Shipping Crab

Getting our shellfish products to market has always been a tricky puzzle to piece together.  With new technology has come new opportunities.  We spoke to Kenai Representative Gary Knopp about his bill which removes an antiquated restriction on the industry so sales can take off.

Knopp told us that this bill hasn't received any push back in the House and that it was refreshing to have a proposition that the Legislature got behind so easily.

Juneau Report 1:1 Senator Donny Olsen Ashley Johnson-Barr Day

A ten-year-old Kotzebue girl's disappearance prompted a citywide, eight-day search that ended with the discovery of her body on the tundra more than two miles from a playground where she was last seen.  We spoke exclusively to Senator Donny Olsen one-on-one about the importance of his bill to designate March 12th as Ashley Johnson-Barr Day.

Peter Vance Wilson pled not-guilty to state charges of first-degree murder and sexual assault. He also faces federal charges for lying to FBI agents investigating her disappearance.  His trial is scheduled for May 2020.

Juneau Report Senator Bill Wielechowski/Alaska State Check Book

Online banking has become mainstream - most everyone knows how to log into their bank's website and view their deposits and credits real-time.  We spoke with Anchorage Senator Bill Wielechowski in an exclusive one-on-one interview on his bill to make the State's finances more accountable.

The Frontier Group's "Following the Money" Report found Alaska was one of four states that failed to meet the basic standards of online spending transparency.  Alaska scored 46 out of 100 possible points, West Virginia scored 98.