A brigade from one of the three "home defence" divisions in Canada was sent to the Aleutian Islands Campaign in 1943 (the islands were technically North American soil and thus deployment there was not considered "overseas"). By this time, there were 34,000 soldiers, mostly Zombies, guarding the coast of British Columbia against a possible Japanese invasion, and to dispel criticism that such a huge force could be more profitably deployed to Europe, King wanted the Zombies to see action. These divisions in British Columbia were made up largely of conscripts, other than officers and NCOs, and desertions before embarkation were noted. Canadian conscripts deployed in the Aleutian Islands Campaign were issued American helmets. When the 13th Brigade landed on Kiska on 15 August 1943, they discovered that the Japanese had already left, and the island was empty. The major battle that the men of the 13th Brigade had to fight during their six-month stay on Kiska was with the taxmen over the question of whether they were overseas or not, as the former meant exemption from paying taxes on the grounds that they were west of the International Date Line, which they used to argue that they were in fact in Asia, making them overseas. The Revenue department won.