Page 307 - Vacation Country Travel Guide

air base where my husband worked. Apartments grave was in the Lutheran Cemetery, not
were impossible to rent and we lived in a hotel the Russian. History surrounds one on this
and took our meals in a restaurant for six weeks. island. We had many practice air raid alerts in
We were living in the Sitka Hotel the Sunday ensuing months. We kept several packsacks full
morning of December 7, 1941, and learned of of recommended necessities: food, clothing and
what happened at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Sitka medicine. We had a special place in the woods
had many Japanese families; one family ran the back of our apartment, and my son and I would
town laundry. Monday morning, the Japanese go there to wait for my husband. We never knew
people were marched through town by soldiers if an alert was practice or real until we heard “all
to an awaiting boat. The Army and Navy families clear.” The air raid alarm was a continuous blast
also departed on government ships, back to the of all sirens and cold storage whistle; the all clear
States. That Sunday of December 7, our little signal was one short blast of the above. Life was
town went into complete blackout because scary, but exciting also. Everyone on the island
it was thought that Sitka’s location could be was aware we had no place to go if we were
the next target. Partial blackout, 6:00 pm, no invaded. We had six miles of road going one way
unnecessary lights such as porch lights should and three miles the other way. Life settled into a
be showing at any time. Blinds should be drawn routine and I soon learned to shop for fresh fruits
whenever lights are on. Homes and businesses and vegetables on the days a boat arrived. There
must not be left with unattended lights. are gentle rains in Sitka, some fog and snow in
Complete blackout, 12:00 midnight to 4:00 am, the winter, but the temperature has reached zero
absolutely no lights must be showing during this only four times in one hundred and fifty years.
period. In June 1942, the Japanese were on the
Aleutian Island at Kiska, one of three islands on The fishing was a dream-come-true to my
which they landed. I’ll never forget that night; husband. We had many wonderful fishing
the only lights we had in the hotel were in the trips. We lived in Sitka two years, and when we
hallway and they were very dim. We spent were preparing to leave, the old timers, the
the night in the hall with the rest of the hotel sourdoughs, told us we would never forget Sitka
guests, in shock. Our young son pulled his first and we would someday return. Perhaps some
baby tooth that night, and such an event we all day, when nothing more than the swoop of a
made of this ordinary thing. The next week, all gull, the clang of a ship’s bell, the memory of two
the businesses placed heavy black tarps on the wonderful years fills our hearts to overflowing,
outsides of their buildings. The hotel solved the we will return to Sitka, Alaska.
problem by painting the windows black. What a
strange feeling to go outside the hotel at night Dorothy was the mother of the publisher,
to the restaurant, or what we thought should be Scott Graber. Her dream came true – at the age
the restaurant, under the tarps. of 85, she returned to Sitka in the summer of
2004 aboard a cruise ship.
We found an apartment that an Army family
had vacated. Above our yard was the grave of
Princess Makeroff, first wife of the last Russian
governor. She was an English woman so her

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