Last Letter from Attu: The True Story of Etta Jones, Alaska Pioneer and Japanese Pow

Etta Jones was not a World War II soldier or a war time spy. She was an American school teacher who in 1941 who along with her husband, Foster agreed to teach the Natives on the remote Aleutian island of Attu. They were both sixty-two years old when they left Alaska's mainland for Attu against the advice of friends and family. Etta, and her sister moved to the Territory of Alaska in 1922. She planned to stay only one year as a vacation, but this 40 something year old nurse from back east met Foster Jones and fell in love. She married and for nearly twenty years they taught in remote Alaskan villages including their last posting on Attu Island at the far end of the Aleutian island chain. Etta's life changed forever on that Sunday morning in June 1942 when almost 2,000 Japanese military men invaded Attu Island and Etta became a prisoner of war. She was taken from American soil to Japan and given up for dead. This is the story of a brave American, a woman of courage and resolve with inextinguishable spirit.

At the conclusion of her own thirty-four year teaching career, Mary Breu set out to write the story of her great-aunt, Etta Jones. After doing extensive research, Mary used Etta's letters, old photographs, Etta's unpublished manuscript written after her captivity, and her research to write this book. She holds a bachelor's and master's degrees. She lives with her husband Jerry in South Carolina.