Alfred Zenger papers

Alfred Zenger was born in Juneau, Alaska, on March 9, 1922, and was drafted on October 2, 1941, at the age of 20 and assigned to Company A of the 297th Infantry Battalion, of the Alaska Army National Guard and later of the US Army. From 1941-1945, he served at various bases in Alaska. He was not in the Attu-Kiska campaign but was later stationed at Attu for a time. He eventually rose to the rank of Sergeant, and in February 1945, his unit, now redesignated the 208th Infantry Battalion, was transferred to Camp Shelby, Mississippi. On May 19, 1945, his unit was deactivated, and he was sent to the Pacific. After leaving San Francisco, he arrived in Calcutta, India, in July 1945. He served in Calcutta and New Delhi, and in December 1945, he returned to the US and was discharged. Zenger passed away at Indian Harbour Beach, FL on March 19, 2014.

The manuscript titled "The Forgotten War," includes personal accounts of the Aleutian Island Campaign, mainly from an American perspective. It also includes the diary of a Japanese doctor, final orders of the Japanese Commander on Attu, a report translated from Russian to English about Allied fighters and bombers landing in the USSR, a few accounts from the Canadian conscripts that served there, a report of the campaign in its entirety from the Unalaska Cuttlefish High School Class of 1981, "Voice from Bataan", and an account of the Bataan Death March. The personal accounts form the majority of this 200-page collection. The collection also has single issues of the "Williwaw Letter," a newsletter published by a veteran's association for those who served in the Aleutians.