Corporal Harold M. Fine (Army Serial # 36 566 600; Organization: 373rd Air SV SQ 23rd SV GP) was born 1/23/1921 in Detroit, Michigan. He completed four years of high school, graduating from Northern High Detroit, Michigan, in 1939. After graduating he worked in the Detroit Board of Assessor’s Office. He enlisted in the U.S. Army 2/10/1943 and served as an administrative and technical clerk and postal clerk during his tour in the Aleutian Islands until 12/11/1945.

USS Panamint

On 12 August 1945 the ship sailed for Adak, Aleutian Islands, where she reported for duty to Commander North Pacific Force and Area. On 29 August Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, Commander North Pacific Force and Area, hoisted his flag on Panamint. Two days later she left Adak with the 9th Fleet and headed west for the occupation of northern Japan. On 7 September the flagship pulled away from the anchored task force and proceeded to a rendezvous point to await the Japanese surrender ship from nearby Ominato Naval Base. On schedule a Japanese destroyer escort bore down the Tsugaru Strait carrying emissaries to hand over northern Japan, and pilots to guide the American ships through Japanese waters. The commissioners were quickly transferred to Panamint. Commodore R. E. Robinson, Jr., represented Vice Admiral Fletcher, and Rear Admiral Densuke Kanome was the head of the Japanese delegation. On the morning of the 8th the massive naval force got underway led by a Japanese frigate through the mineswept channel and Tsugaru Straits leading to Ominato Anchorage. Panamint moored off the shattered naval base that afternoon, and the following morning the formal occupation ceremony was held on her decks. Surrender had come so quickly that two weeks passed before American troops arrived to occupy the countryside. On 20 September Panamint returned to Adak, and proceeded to Kodiak 2 October.

(taken from http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/p1/panamint.htm, last accessed 01/18/2007 at 23:00:00 UTC)

Aleutian Islands in WWII

Dutch Harbor, on Unalaska was bombed by Japanese forces June 3-4, 1942.

Japanese forces invaded Kiska Island on June 6 and Attu Island on June 7th, 1942. The islands were reclaimed by the United States on May 11, 1943.

In August 3 of 1944, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt visited Alaska as part of his Inspection Trip to the Pacific (07/13/1944 to 08/13/1944.) He spoke at the naval air station at Adak, Alaska.