Description
Book SynopsisEtta Jones was not a World War II soldier or a war time spy. She was a school teacher whose life changed forever on that Sunday morning in June 1942 when the Japanese military invaded Attu Island and Etta became a prisoner of war.
Etta and her sister moved to the Territory of Alaska in 1922. She planned to stay only one year as a vacation, but this 40 something year old nurse from back east met Foster Jones and fell in love. They married and for nearly twenty years they lived, worked and taught in remote Athabascan, Alutiiq, Yup'ik and Aleut villages where they were the only outsiders. Their last assignment was Attu.
After the invasion, Etta became a prisoner of war and spent 39 months in Japanese POW sites located in Yokohama and Totsuka. She was the first female Caucasian taken prisoner by a foreign enemy on the North American Continent since the War of 1812, and she was the first American female released by the Japanese at the end of World War II.
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Trade Review
“Etta Jones was a nurse and teacher in the Alaska Bush. She was living on Attu when Japanese took the island in World War II and, with the rest of the civilian population, incarcerated in Japan for the rest of the war. Her letters and photographs have been used by her grand-niece, Mary Breu for this book.” * Anchorage Daily News *
"Etta Jones was truly an ordinary woman who did some extraordinary things. And that, in this adventurer’s book, is what makes a hero." * Fairbanks Daily News Miner *
"Etta Jones is a true American hero... If this were a work of fiction it would have ended just like it does. Good triumphs over evil. Good works are rewarded. In today’s turbulent times, Last Letters from Attu is just what the doctor ordered." * Anchorage Press *
"This remarkable book, while adding to our understanding of World War II in Alaska, is much more. It is the story of an important American, a woman of courage and resolve, an inextinguishable spirit." * Ray Hudson (Afterword) *
Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface 9
To Alaska 13
Tanana: 1922-1923 27
Tanana: 1923-1930 37
Tanana, Tatitlek, and Old Harbor: 1928-1932 53
From Kodiak to Kipnuk: 1932 70
Kipnuk Culture: 1932 79
Letters from Kipnuk: 1932-1933 91
Kipnuk School: 1932-1934 112
Letters from Kipnuk: 1934-1937 119
Old Harbor: 1937-1941 135
Attu: 1941-1942 148
Invasion: 1942 167
The Australians: January-July 1942 181
Bund Hotel, Yokohama: July 1942 193
Yokohama Yacht Club: 1942-1943 203
Yokohama Yacht Club: 1943-1944 213
Totsuka: 1944-1945 227
Rescue: August 31, 1945 245
Return to the United States: September 1945 255
Home: 1945-1965 266
Afterword by Ray Hudson 279
Acknowledgements 281
Notes 283
Bibliography 305
Index 307
About the Author 317
About the Afterword Writer 319
