COMMENTS
With the advent of Ken Burns' "The War" there has been much more attention given to the war years, 1941 through 1945/46,
from a U.S. viewpoint, for the most part. Other programs have followed suit, because they anticipated the popularity and
of Burns' multi-part documentary. One prominent documentary was on the Award-winning PBS series Independent
Lens, hosted by Terrence Howard. It was entitled "Red, White, Black and Blue", and centered on the Battle of Attu by U.S.
forces in May, 1943. Veterans Bill Jones and Andy Petrus, sole survivors of their platoon, are featured on-camera
recounting their experiences. The footage on Attu is excellent, and I thought it a strong program.
However, I would like to remind those of you visiting the Lila Smith website, that military efforts to re-take Attu
were rendered somewhat frustrated by the Territory of Alaska's refusal to return the Attuans to the island in 1945/46.
According to the wonderful work of scholarship, When the Wind was a River, by the late Dean Kohlhoff (ISBN-10: 0295974036)
Territorial officials outright lied to the Attuans who survived the war in Japan, telling them the military did not want
them to return to their home island. This, in fact, was not true. Kohlhoff's book documents this slight-of-administrative
hand quite well.
Attu veterans have a battle-induced view of Attu. May was an outright stupid time to attempt a recapture of U.S. soil
on Attu. May is a lousy month in the Aleutians--in can be just about as raw weather-wise then, as earlier. Anyone with even
a modicum of Aleutian experience can testify to that. I'm sure the military strategists and logisticians had ample reason
to "go" in May, but it was hell on the troops, and cost them many lives and injuries.
I always wonder if any thought was given to the idea of just forgetting about the Japanese garrisoned on Attu, for
by the conclusion of winter of 1944-45 (nearly 22 months later) I'm therozing there would not have been many Japanese remaining
for they would have withdrawn (as they were on Kiska) or they would have been mostly dead from want of food
and fuel. Those few surviving would have had much of the "old zip" taken right out of them. By the time someone
showed up with some rice and dried herring, all thoughts of Emperor Hirohito would have been, in my opinion,
quite lessened in intensity.
Lastly, I would like to remind that the war began for the Japanese people in 1937 with the Japanese Military's mock-up/
exaggeration of events on the Marco Polo Bridge in China. The Japanese Military used this to "go in" to China and
make war. Unbearable carnage took place after that, including the oft-cited "Rape of Nanking". This high-profile
war atrocity was only "one of many" that Japan visited on the Chinese. So, by 1942-43, the Japanese warlords had laid so low
the resources of civilian Japan, that shocking want of food and fuel were commonplace. Simply put, malnutrition and want
of the most common resources were either scarce or absent. The military and Imperial House in 1943-44 cared very
little about the plight of the millions of Japanese civilians. This is abundantly and vividly documented in Thomas
R.H. Havens "Valley of Darkness" (ISBN-10: 0819154954).
This is by way of saying, that the Japanese Military authorities who led Japan into war in 1937, had been cruising
into great victories, vast territorial and political advances since their victories began in the late 19th century. They had
a classic hubristic flaw. Tragically their flaw resulted in the situation crumbling down around their heads, and unfortunately
most of the fragments came to rest on the Japanese civilians. This is sadly documented by all respected war historians.
I think events in my fictionalized journal well match reality. In fact, I'm sure they do.
(iw: 11/2007)
Reality versus Fiction
As the publication date approached, and is in fact here, I'm asked by those who have read this novel
where reality ends and fiction begins. In a historical novel, if well researched and crafted, it is
my view that it would be exceedingly difficult to tell unless one published a page by page explication! And
whatever slings and arrows of critical reception await The War Journal of Lila Ann Smith , I can state with pride
and certainty that it was thoroughly researched. For that I am proud. This interview,
however, will serve to address the basics of the topic, Fact vs. Fiction regards War Journal.... (iw, 10/10/07)
≈The Real Story Behind Irving Warner's historical WW II novel,
The War Journal of Lila Ann Smith ≈
An Interview By: R. Aubrey Richards: 4/15/2007
RAR: What brought about your interest both in this obscure area of the globe, and that period in history?
Irving Warner: I first went to the Aleutian Islands to work on a floating crab processor in 1964, and before
that worked not too far from the Aleutian islands in 1963 (Kodiak, Alaska). In 1964, during a very brief stopover on the island
of Atka, I met one of the survivors of the Japanese internment camp. We talked, however briefly.
RAR: Briefly? Meaning?
Irving Warner: I was serving aboard the processor M.V. Mercator, and, we stopped there during
the night to unload drums of fuel. Some of the villagers were helping in the operation of ferrying those drums to shore—no dock
there. That's when I met a few of the survivors. Being always a history buff, even then, I thought it was strange that American citizens,
civilians, from a village on American soil, would be captured by a foreign army and taken prisoner back to Japan. I didn't think many
people in the U.S. knew about that, and I was right.
RAR:So, this novel was written in 2003/2004, that indicates quite a bit of rumination on the topic! Forty years. What took so long?
Irving Warner: In 1964, life was hand to mouth. I wasn't much more than a kid, and certainly no writer, though with ambitions
to become a writer. But I was a storyteller, and knew a good story when I heard or read it. As chance would have it, my residency in
Alaska extended until 1996l. During that time I came back to the Aleutians, actually and creatively. This was reflected in my first collection
of short stories In the Islands of the Four Mountains and other stories. The Islands of the Four Mountains is one of the island groups in the Aleutians.
RAR: What relationship did it have with Attu, and the story of the Japanese invasion of Attu in 1942?
Irving Warner: A lot. For starters, I almost died there—not too far from the Four Mountains group. And on the morning after
my survival [in one widow-maker of a storm], I woke to find our ship anchored there. I looked out the port hole, and told my bunky,
"By God, I'm going to write a story someday, and it's going to have the name of this group--Islands of the Four Mountains in it."
And I did and it did!
RAR: And, the connection?
Irving Warner: For starters, I felt lucky to be alive. But more importantly, the connection is artistic and spiritual. By writing that
short story, and immediately finding a topnotch place for it (Cimarron Review) I began to think more and more creatively about
the Aleutians as an universal setting, one that said so much about the human condition. And, I was there. I was working there,
and continued doing so well into the 1980's. Also, not inconsequentially, I lost a number of acquaintances and friends out there.
It is an old saw that you write best what you know best, and though it is not necessarily true, I've observed that it often is.
RAR: So, I do know that you wrote more stories about the Aleutians, and even a radio play, about. . .
Irving Warner: "On Our Soil", about the Japanese invasion of Kiska island. . .
RAR: Same date, June 6, 1942?
Irving Warner: Right. Several hundred miles away at Attu—further west—the Japanese took Attu by armed invasion, same day.
RAR: I have read the galleys of The War Journal of Lila Ann Smith, and I was frankly confused –I know it was historical fiction
based closely on real events—but I remain confused about where history ends and fiction began. Also, was there a mixing of
the both? I think a number of people reading those galleys would have those issues.
Irving Warner: Missing in the galley was "The Gatekeeper", a lyrical introduction by myself that leaves no doubt the work
is fiction, and states black on white that Lila Ann Smith is not the real teacher, but an invention by myself—in order to tell the
story. I had to use a device like her, and the story—I feel—strongly benefited from that.
RAR: So, where else does fiction begin and history end? And the mix, if there is a mix?
Irving Warner: Historical fact is this:The school teacher was named Etta Jones, and her husband Foster. His job title was called
variously a radio operator/aerographer. He was executed by the Japanese within hours of the take over of Chichigof Village,
which is (or was) the name of the village on Attu island. Mrs. Jones was badly beaten, but survived. After a few months, she was
transported to the main island of Japan, Honshu, where she was interred with British, Dutch, and Australian nurses and civilian
women taken as POW's throughout the various holdings of those countries. There Mrs. Jones
survived the war, and in fact, soon thereafter (1946/47) claimed back wages, and rightfully so! She was about 60 in 1942;
she lived into her eighties. She was interviewed about her capture and captivity in Japan by a cub reporter in the 1970's or
early eighties during a visit to Florida. She did not keep a journal that I know of; hence, absolutely the greatest difference
between the real teacher and her fictional counterpart—the journal keeper I created—was that Lila Ann Smith
remained with the Attuans. There's the major departure I took as storyteller.
RAR: And then, she was able to witness, and write about events in the journal?
Irving Warner: Right. Mrs. Jones did not have that opportunity.
RAR: But you intended this, originally, to be a non-fiction work?
Irving Warner: Sure did. I tried everywhere; queried here, there—especially Alaskan sources, and then Pacific Northwest
sources. And, no go. So, I'd given up on telling the Attu story at all—hell, nobody was interested because most commonly,
they thought it a "small" story. Dummies! Go figure. So, my project was dead—research, for nothing. By this time it was
2002/2003. I forget who, but someone suggested I do it as a historical novel. I think it was Tess Gallagher. But, I wasn't for
it. I'd already done a screenplay.
RAR: Screenplay? About the take over of Attu—the village—by the Japanese?
Irving Warner: Oh, yeah. I did a screen adaption of the real story of it in 2001, entering it into the Nicholl Fellowship.
(American Academy of Motion Pictures screenplay competition) Some exciting stuff happened with it at that point.
RAR: A screen adaption?! Of the exact same story as in "The War Journal of Lila Ann Smith"?
Irving Warner: Not precisely. The title was different, and the story was told in a different manner, with a much
different ending—far more poignant.In a movie, you can really do flashbacks and flashforwards easily. It was
calledVanishing Spirits. It short listed within a short list under that title, came close to being a finalis. During the
week (we'd been alerted by the Academy people to stay posted) when they were winnowing down to the "top
ten" list, I was pretty keyed up. But, didn't happen. Still, scripts that got that far along—I was confident of optioning,
at least, the screenplay, because agents and producers called. And they did, but surprisingly not that many. Nothing
like my previous Nicholl short-listed screenplay, The Silent Cry. Actually, Vanishing Spirits placed far higher .
RAR: Strange, especially now that native American issues are high on the popular radar screen.
Irving Warner: Well, they might be on the popular radar screen, but they can't land at the airport. Finally, I asked
one agent why the infrequent queries, and he said – I paraphrase, "Well Irving, it is a fine screenplay, but where are
we going to get a bunch of Aleuts for the picture. Plus, where's the star power? It is a super-Indy." And, in Hollywood,
back in the early 2000's, if your script had the markings of an "indy" (independent production) you were screwed.
So, at that point—the project really crashed and burned. Not to be seen.
RAR: So, then it was suggested to write a historical novel instead. You were not forit:
Irving Warner: No. To begin with, the true story was intriguing enough without fictional enhancement. To fictionalize it,
you'd either have to go into the 3rd person, which I thought would destroy the spirit of the story. So, if not the 3rd person,
then what? It would have to be one of the Aleut survivors, and only about half of the 44 survived. Their culture is so different,
that to tell it from an Aleut POV—it would be either constrained, impossible or – well, in any event I did not want to take it on.
RAR: What changed your mind—clearly, you did write it as an historical novel?
Irving Warner: Time was getting along. I was in my 60's, and if I did not tell the story in the full manner which it
deserved to be told—in any genre—what would happen? I'd done extensive research, including interviews with two
of the camp survivors. I saw it, as not any one person's story—no one race or culture. What happened to the Aleuts
between 1942 and 1945/46, is what happened so tragically when non-industrialized people encounter their industrialized
counterparts from the east and west. In this case, a war. They had, strictly speaking, no part in. The ships and soldiers
blew into their traditional land, and did them in. After 1945 none of them returned home, but were re-settled in other
areas, mostly Atka. Attu was taken from them forever: First by the Japanese, then the Territory of Alaska, and even
into and beyond the ANCSA days (1969 Alaska Native Claims Settle Act), it was never restored as a homeland for them.
There's nothing out there now but two memorial plaques, and the foundation of the old chapel.
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