Ghosts in the Fog by Samantha Seiple

I am Charlie from Ghosts in the Fog

I am Charlie and I am a U.S. Navy aerographer's mate first class. On May 18th, 1942 the navy assigned me to Kiska. I was assigned here to track the weather which is crucial to the war in the pacific. They must know when a storm is coming or when it's clear out to fly. So I am leading a nine man weather team up here to track weather along with our dog Explosion. I was originally going to Atka but I switched with Ed Hudson because he wanted to go to Atka so he gave me his ticket for Kiska. We randomly drew tickets to where we were assigned. But none of us knew the hardship that was to come.

Although weather predictions from the Aleutians  is only accurate 60 precent of the time, we are curently working on a top secret weather mission with new equpment so we don't have to use weather ballons. I am living in three small shacks connected with side walks. The shacks have heating and electricity. That's good but there's no one on this 110 square mile island except during hunting season people came to this island. We have a six month supply of food and a stove. We are supposed to live here for several years.

One day we spotted a shadow of a plane over head. We were able to tell it was a Japanese plane by the characteristics of the shadow. Then we radioed Dutch harbor to warn them of possible attack. Then we prepared ourselves for possible threat of attack. We stashed food and supplies away in a nearby ravine  if the shacks were attacked, which they were.

 We quickly burned code books and dodged bullets as the shack was being destroyed. We escaped into the ravine while running. We spread out and that was the last time I saw my weather team. I used two gray blankets I grabbed while running out to cover me and camoflaged me in the rocks. I never found the food that was stored away. But I was mistakenly told there are no poisonous plants in the Aleutains. I found a plant but lucky I didn't eat the leaves because the leaves were poisonous. I discovered the grass was good insulation so I used it to stay warm.

 Since the beginning I counted on the Americans driving out the invading Japanese soldiers, but that seems unlikely to happen any time soon. It was seven weeks of evading capture and eventually I decided I had to surrender or I would likely die. I only weighed eighty pounds. All I have eaten was plants and worms. I wasn't going to last much longer. So I surrendered even though I feared being executed.

When I walked toward them they saw me as a ghost in the fog. They immediately came towards me and sat me down and gave me food. They all stared at me. I was like a skeleton after starving for so long. I had eaten plants but that wasn't enough to save me from starvation. I was scared when an officer came with soldiers and made me get up. Thet led me somewhere I thought for sure I would be executed but I wasn't.