NEW ORLEANS (March 26, 2025) — The National WWII Museum today debuted On American Shores: The Aleutian Islands Campaign, a special exhibit examining the Japanese invasion of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska and the subsequent efforts to reclaim the only North American soil seized during World War II. Exploring the campaign’s brutal conditions, the invasion’s influence on American morale, the strategic lessons learned, and the lasting impacts on native civilian populations, the exhibit will expand awareness of this often-overlooked episode of World War II and the ramifications that resonate to the present day.
“On American Shores highlights this campaign through an array of unique materials from the Museum’s collection paired with period photographs and firsthand accounts of those who were there eight decades ago,” said Museum Curator Ross Patterson II. “Visitors will be able to gain an appreciation for a unique theater of war in the Pacific, seeing the war against Japan from a perspective that has largely faded from the public consciousness.”
Stretching out for 1,200 miles from mainland Alaska — then a US territory — toward Russia, the Aleutian Islands mark the border of the Bering Sea and Pacific Ocean. The Japanese targeted these strategically important islands in order to divert American forces in the Pacific theater north, hamper possible US access to its allies in Russia, regain the momentum lost at the Battle of Midway, and deal a psychological blow to the American public. Two islands, Attu and Kiska, were seized by the forces of the Empire of Japan in June 1942, with the 42 native Aleuts of Attu being deported to the Japanese home island of Hokkaido. The United States also forcibly relocated the native populations of several other islands, with many barred from returning to their ancestral homes even after the war ended. The exhibit examines the indelible mark left on the Aleut population and their descendants by both the invasion and internment.
Predating the Battle of Guadalcanal by two months, the Aleutians’ cold and fog-bound stretches of rock and sea were the site of the first American offensive action in the Pacific war — action that would be as bloody as it was innovative. On American Shores highlights the new strategies and technologies introduced during the campaign, including the first multiservice amphibious assault of the war, the first American use of carrier-based close air support, and even the first airstrikes against the Japanese mainland by land-based bomber formations. The exhibit also explores the Battle of the Komandorski Islands on March 26, 1943, the last daylight gun battle between surface warships in history — an event whose 82nd anniversary was commemorated with the exhibit’s opening.
Central to the exhibit is the main action of the Aleutians Campaign, the fight to recapture Attu in May 1943, where American servicemembers faced both the bitter cold and a determined enemy. Heavily layered uniforms and special gear vital to working in the cold and damp are on display to illustrate these brutal conditions, which caused over 1,800 American troops to suffer environmental injuries like frostbite. In the aftermath of the Japanese garrison’s furious and brutal final banzai charge, an additional 1,700 American servicemembers were killed or injured, with an American-to-Japanese combat casualty ratio that would be exceeded only by that of Iwo Jima in 1945. By calling attention to this steep cost of victory, On American Shores pays tribute to their sacrifices.
In addition to more than 70 unique artifacts and materials from the Museum’s collection, including never-before-seen images, rare American and Japanese cold-weather uniforms, and equipment from those who were there, On American Shores features numerous first-person accounts from veterans who fought to retake the islands from the Japanese.
On American Shores is on display in the Museum’s Joe W. and Dorothy D. Brown Foundation Special Exhibit Gallery in Louisiana Memorial Pavilion through January 11, 2026.
The National WWII Museum tells the story of the American experience in the war that changed the world—why it was fought, how it was won, and what it means today—so that all generations will understand the price of freedom and be inspired by what they learn. Dedicated in 2000 as The National D-Day Museum and now designated by Congress as America’s National WWII Museum, the institution celebrates the American spirit, teamwork, optimism, courage and sacrifices of the men and women who fought on the battlefront and served on the Home Front. For more information on Tripadvisor’s #1 New Orleans attraction, call 877-813-3329 or 504-528-1944 or visit nationalww2museum.org.