Wednesday, October 13, 2021

The History Of A WW2 Special Unit You've Probably Never Heard Of, The Alaska Scouts

 

 


 Col. Lawrence Castner

 

Okay, so we all know about The Devils Brigade (FSSF), the Marine Raiders, numerous US Army Ranger units, Even the Alamo Scouts.

The question is, who the Hell are the Alaska Scouts?

Apparently they were a small reconnaissance unit that operated in the early years of WW2 in the Aleutian Islands. Once the Japanese were pushed out, the group didn't last long. They were an "interesting and eclectic" bunch of guys to whom military decorum and discipline didn't mean all that much.

The most colorful thing about them was their nickname. They were referred to as 'Castners Cuthroats' due to the fact that their C.O was Col. Lawrence Castner, and the fact that none of these guys wore uniforms and dressed like, well, someone you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley, hence the 'Cuthroats' portion of their unofficial name.

Anyway, here is a link to the most in depth article about these unsung and essentially unknown American soldiers of WW2.

www.historynet.com/alaskas-cutthroats.htm

And another couple of Follow up articles;

military.wikia.org/wiki/Castner%27s_Cutthroats

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castner%27s_Cutthroats

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