Page 9 - AHATA

Aruba: The island of Aloes

Monday
October 28, 2024
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Page 9
A r u b a ’ s O N L Y E n g l i s h n e w s p a p e r
Aruba’s ONLY English newspaper
US Navy apologizes for the 1882 obliteration of a Tlingit village in Alaska

By Mark Thiessen
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)
— Shells fell on the Alaska
Native village as winter
approached, and then
sailors landed and burned
what was left of homes,
food caches and canoes.
Conditions grew so dire in
the following months that
elders sacrificed their own
lives to spare food for sur-
viving children.
It was Oct. 26, 1882, in An-
goon, a Tlingit village of
about 420 people in the
southeastern Alaska pan-
handle. Now, 142 years lat-
er, the perpetrator of the
bombardment — the U.S.
Navy —has apologized.
Rear Adm. Mark Sucato,
the commander of the
Navy's northwest region,
issued the apology during
an at-times emotional cer-
emony Saturday, the anni-
versary of the atrocity.

Continued on Page 2 A member of the U.S. Navy sprinkles tobacco on top of a killer whale clan hat, which is considered to bring good fortune, during
a Navy ceremony Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, in Angoon, Alaska, to apologize for the 1882 military bombing of the Tlingit village in
Angoon. (Nobu Koch/Sealaska Heritage Institute via AP)