At the outbreak of World War II, the Imperial Japanese Naval Base of Paramushiro lay only 650 miles southwest of Attu Island, the westernmost island in the Aleutian chain. Both the Attuans and the Aleutian Islanders in general were wary of their proximity to this Japanese installation. "Some day they (will) come to Attu," predicted Attuan Michael Hodikoff. On June 7, 1942, Japanese forces invaded the United States by attacking and occupying this small island along with Kiska as part of the Aleutian Islands Campaign, initially a diversion for the Battle of Midway. This changed forever not only the lives of the 42 Attuan villagers taken as prisoners-of-war, but the Aleut people as a whole.