Unalaska, AK – The Army Corps of Engineers and the Unalaska Historic Preservation Commission are hoping to have interpretive signs discussing Unalaska's World War II-era heritage up around town this spring.

The project was on hold pending city permission to put up a sign on city land marking the submarine dock in the small boat harbor. The City Council unanimously approved a resolution to that effect at its meeting last week. The other signs will be located on Ounalashka Corporation property.

The project is part of the mitigation effort the Army Corps has undertaken for the past 20 years in Unalaska. That work has mostly involved tearing down hazardous buildings left over from World War II military operations around Dutch Harbor. Margan Grover, the district archaeologist for the Army Corps in Anchorage, says some of the signs are intended to commemorate structures that were historically important but had to be torn down for safety reasons.

Sites that used to be occupied by an underground military hospital on Amaknak Island and a Bureau of Indian Affairs hospital on Unalaska Island will be among those to be marked. Signs will also identify a couple of still-standing buildings. One is the dock that was used to repair submarines on patrol in the Bering Sea during the war. The building is owned by the Ounalashka Corporation and currently leased to Harbor Crown Seafoods.

A sign will also identify the red brick naval radio station near the APL dock. A sign on East Point Road will discuss the Unangan evacuation during the war, and another near the museum will explain some of the hillside trenches in the area. A sign is also planned for Standard Oil Hill that will discuss the sinking of the vessel Northwestern in Captain's Bay.