Joseph Kugler

Staff Sergeant Joseph Kugler left for the Aleutian Islands in 1943. The 22 year old Appleton man repaired radar equipment on bombers for the 11th Air Force. The Air Force used the bombers to attack the Japanese on the Aleutian islands of Attu and Kiska. The Japanese had invaded the islands the year before and used them as an eastern line of homeland defense.

Map of Aleutian islands

US forces pushed the Japanese from the Aleutians by invading Attu. Kugler went to the island to help "clean-up" after the attack. The Japanese had launched one of the largest suicide charges of the war during the fighting on Attu. Officials found 2,351 Japanese and 600 American bodies.