On June 14, 1942, near the start of the Aleutian campaign, U.S. soldiers gave Native residents of St. Paul Island one hour to pack and board the Army transport ship Delarof, which carried them to overcrowded, unsanitary camps in Southeast Alaska. People from St. Paul and all over the Aleutians lived in the camps for the next two years. About one in ten died, mostly children and the elderly.
The order to leave interrupted a baseball game. So, more than 80 years later, the community commemorates that day with a game of softball. And this year, for the second time, they also held a game in Anchorage for people from St. Paul who aren’t living on the island.
“It means a lot to us,” said Dimitri Zacharof, one of the game’s organizers. “[To] commemorate our people that were relocated in 1942 — it means a lot to us to be able to host this event that's sponsored by the Aleut Community of St Paul. Bringing people together. It's great. It's great fun.”
Zacharof’s wife, Olga Zacharof, is the other organizer. She said the game is a way to honor the history.
“It's just important, you know, for us to make sure our kids and the future generations know what happened to our people,” she said.
Holding a game in Anchorage is important because it’s getting harder and harder for people to stay in St. Paul. Older residents need better access to health care, and younger people are leaving the island to find jobs.
One of the modern transplants is John-John Kushin, who moved to Wasilla a few years ago. He says it’s hard to find work in St. Paul, and the cost of living is getting out of hand.
“I would like to go home, you know, but the lack of housing.” he said. “It's very hard to live somewhere where there's hardly any economy.”
St. Paul has relied on fishing for half a century, but market turmoil has roiled the industry. St. Paul’s only seafood processing plant, Trident Seafoods, stopped operating during the Covid-19 pandemic and still hasn’t reopened.
Zinaida Melovidov is one of the few remaining elders who still live in St. Paul. She says her son is struggling to make ends meet as a fisherman.
“He won't profit or anything. You just pay back for the fuel and stuff. It's getting tough.” she said.
Choosing happy memories
The history behind the game is somber, but the energy at the game was upbeat. Umpire Thomas Bourdukofsky cracked a Coors Light, setting the tone before the first pitch.
“My first beer,” he laughed. “Play ball!”
Bourdukofky’s daughter, Carley Bourdukofky, took the pitcher’s mound. She struck out a few batters, but then people started getting hits.
Three-and-a-half innings later, the score was 17-3, with grade-schooler Chloe Zacharof on base.
“I'm having fun and I'm stressed at the same time,” she said.
Chloe scored on a line drive to right, the crowd shouting “Go!” at her as she rounded the bases and slid.
“I feel really good about it,” she said. “It felt magical. It felt cool.I was pretty nervous, but I'm feeling good now.
Melovidov was one of the spectators who urged Chloe to keep running. Born just after the war, Melovidov grew up in its shadow. She heard the stories firsthand and even visited the old internment camp at Funter Bay, near Juneau.
“Makes me think about my grandparents and the elders, what they went through” she said.
One of those elders was Edna Floyd, who spent the first year of her life in Funter Bay. She died in 2018.
“She survived there as an infant for a year,” said her son, Jeff Kaufman, who lives in Wasilla. “It was really sad, but we also feel fortunate, and today was a good celebration of that.”
Chloe Bourdukofsky-Price played in the game, too. She grew up decades after the war, but she still thinks about it. She said connecting with her traditions and with her community help her learn how to live with the knowledge of what happened in St. Paul and Funter Bay.
“My mentors have recommended that now, we get to choose our memories, so either that be good or bad,” she said. “I think our community is choosing happy ones moving forward.”
The final score was 29-11. Some might call that a blowout, but Bourdukofsky-Price — surrounded by friends and family — said it didn’t feel like anyone lost.
