Dutch Harbor Remembrance Day

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                             No. 12-078
Governor Orders Flags Lowered for Dutch Harbor Remembrance Day

June 1, 2012, Juneau, Alaska – Governor Sean Parnell has ordered state flags to be lowered to half-staff on Sunday, June 3 to mark the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Dutch Harbor during World War II. On June 3, 1942, the Japanese bombed Dutch Harbor on Amaknak Island.

“Each year on June 3, we remember all who were affected by the bombing of Dutch Harbor and the events that followed, and pay our respects to the soldiers who died protecting our freedom and defending our nation,” Governor Parnell said. “I ask all Alaskans to join with the people of Dutch Harbor in honor and remembrance of all that was lost in defense of the Aleutian Islands during World War II.”

Governor Parnell has proclaimed June 3, 2012, as Dutch Harbor Remembrance Day in Alaska. State flags should be returned to full-staff on Monday, June 4.

A copy of the proclamation is available at:
http://gov.alaska.gov/parnell/press-room/full-proclamation.html?pr=6146

Alaska State Capitol Building

 Where is Dutch Harbor?

Unalaska is a city in the Aleutians West Census Area of the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. Unalaska is located on Unalaska Island and neighboring Amaknak Island in the Aleutian Islands off of mainland Alaska.

The population was 4,376 at the 2010 census, which is 79% of the entire Aleutian West Borough. Almost all of the community's port facilities are on Amaknak Island, better known as Dutch Harbor or just "Dutch". It is the largest fisheries port in the U.S. by volume caught. It includes Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base and Fort Mears, U.S. Army, a U.S. National Historic Landmark.

Dutch Harbor lies within the city limits of Unalaska and is connected to Unalaska by a bridge. Amaknak Island is home to almost 59 percent of the city's population, although it has less than 3 percent of its land area.

The Aleut or Unangan have lived on Unalaska Island for thousands of years.  The Russian fur trade reached Unalaska when Stepan Glotov and his crew arrived on August 1, 1759. The Unangan people, who were the first to inhabit the island of Unalaska, named it "Ounalashka" meaning ‘Near the Peninsula’. The regional native corporation has adopted this moniker, and is known as the Ounalashka Corporation.   Dutch Harbor was so named by the Russians because they believed that a Dutch vessel was the first European ship to enter the harbor.