Military

Motoaki Asano came from Japan to attend the commemoration. His father Hiroo Okazaki died on Attu and is still buried there alongside more than 2,000 other Japanese soldiers.

The Aleutian Islands served as the battleground for some of the bloodiest conflicts on American soil since the Civil War. But most people have never heard of the Battle of Attu, the invasion of Kiska, or even the Aleutian campaign. A Japanese filmmaker wants to change that.

Sullivan cited the over-prescription of opioids and the rising number of overdose deaths in the past year as reasons veterans are looking for other treatment methods.

The Alaska U.S. Senator raised the issue of sexual assaults involving minors on military bases during a Senate Defense Appropriations hearing last week.

An NPR investigation last year revealed that a number of VA centers were ejecting hundreds of caregivers from the program. The VA promised reform, but a year later few have returned to the program.

In 1942, there were 44 people living on Attu Island, nearly all Alaska Natives. They were taken as captives to Japan, where half of them died. And after the war, the federal government forbade them from returning. In August, a group of 11 descendants finally visited their ancestral home for the first time.