The strategic position of the islands of Attu and Kiska off Alaska's coast meant their locations could control the sea lanes across the northern Pacific Ocean.

"[5] On 7 June 1942, six months after the United States entered World War II, the 301st Independent Infantry Battalion from the Japanese Northern Army landed unopposed on Attu.

The U.S. military feared both islands could be turned into strategic Japanese airbases from which aerial attacks could be launched against mainland Alaska and the rest of the U.S. West Coast.

In Walt Disney's 1943 film Victory Through Air Power, the use of the Aleutian Islands for American long-range bombers to bomb Japan was postulated.

Despite heavy naval bombardments of Japanese positions, the American troops encountered strong entrenched defenses that made combat conditions tough.

The fleet included the carriers Zuikaku, Shōkaku, Jun'yō, Hiyō, the battleships Musashi, Kongō, Haruna, and the cruisers Mogami, Kumano, Suzuya, Tone, Chikuma, Agano, Ōyodo, and eleven destroyers.

The loss of Attu and the evacuation of Kiska came shortly after the death of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who was killed by American aircraft in Operation Vengeance.

Pagano’s great-grandfather was the last Alaska Native chief of Attu Island in the Bering Sea and he died of starvation as a prisoner of war after Japanese forces invaded.

On Attu Island, Japan's first recovery mission took place in 1953, yielding the remains of about 320 soldiers, which were repatriated and stored at the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery.

Efforts to locate additional remains have faced delays, largely due to U.S. environmental regulations governing excavation activities on the island.