In June 1942, Japanese troops occupied the Aleutian islands of Attu and Kiska in Alaska, the first enemy occupation of US territory since the War of 1812. For the next year a bloody conflict raged that was nearly invisible to most North Americans as Canadian and American soldiers, airmen and sailors went north to hold the Japanese in check.

This is the complete story of the war in the North Pacific, including details of: Japanese subs lurking off the west coast, sinking ships and shelling the coast of British Columbia; the submarine-launched airplane that bombed Oregon's forests; the surreal tale of balloon-bombs crossing the Pacific to North America.

Brendan Coyle has done a magnificent job in this comprehensive review of the war on the West Coast. No other single volume has so neatly tied together the myriad stories of how the war affected people in British Columbia, California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. —Jim Delgado

Brendan Coyle was born and raised in New Westminster, British Columbia, the youngest of 10 siblings. He always had a keen interest in ships and all things nautical, and he was determined to work in BC`s historic maritime industry. He earned his basic SCUBA certification at 14 and worked his way through the "ranks" from stints as a deckhand and commercial diver to journeyman fabricator/welder in the fishing and boat-building industries. He is now employed as a maintenance planner in ship repair.

Brendan`s freelance articles appear often in the Victoria Times Colonist. He has also written for the Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Province, Diver Magazine, and Canadian Diving Journal. His interest in Canadian and American military history, vintage aircraft and Canada`s north led him to write about the unknown war on North America`s West Coast. Brendan Coyle lives in Steveston, BC, with his wife, Melanie Arnis, and two daughters, Meghan and Rhianna.

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