04.20.18

Sullivan Honors Alaskan of the Week: Dimitri Philemonof

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) this week honored Dimitri Philemonof, originally from St. George Island, Alaska, as part of his “Alaskan of the Week” series. Dimitri has served the people of the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands for forty years at the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, where he has been President and CEO since 1985. Dimitri has devoted his life to helping the people of the region heal from the wounds of WWII, when the U.S. government interned and relocated nearly 900 Aleut civilian residents of the Pribilof and the Aleutian Islands, including his parents and siblings.

Alaskan of the Week Dimitri

Senator Sullivan Honoring Dimitri Philemonof as Alaskan of the Week (click image or here to watch, click here to download video).

 

TRIBUTE TO DIMITRI PHILEMONOF – (U.S. Senate – April 19, 2018)

Mr. President, today I rise, as I like to do at the end of the week, to talk about somebody in my State who has made a real big difference to Alaska and, in many ways to the country.

It is a good opportunity for me to come down on the floor and brag a little bit about Alaska, although my State does a really good job of selling itself anyway. It is what we refer to in my office as the Alaskan of the Week. It is a great opportunity to talk about not just the wonderful things we have in Alaska—the wonderful mountains, oceans, and how beautiful the State is. Right now, the Sun is out again and shining high. The snow is melting. The buds are coming out and birds are coming back. It is a good opportunity for me to talk not just about the natural wonders but the people who make Alaska such a great place.

While it doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves, there is an incredibly fascinating and sometimes tragic history of my State. It is a good opportunity for me to talk to my colleagues about that and the people who have worked hard and have been part of that history and have helped to heal some of the scars that have been left from that history. Along with talking about the beauty of Alaska every week, we talk about someone who has made a difference.

This week, I would like to recognize Dimitri Philemonof and all the work he has done over the decades for his community, for his State, and really for his country. Dimitri was born in 1944 to Erena and Isaac Philemonof on the breathtaking, beautiful St. George Island, one of the two principal islands of the Pribilof Islands in Alaska. Surrounded by the Bering Sea, the Pribilofs are about 750 miles from Anchorage and about 500 miles from the Siberian Coast.

The Pribilofs are really one of the Wonders of the World, particularly with the nature that is there—Steller sea lions, walruses, sea otters, and tens of thousands of fur seals. Depending on the season, more than 2.5 million seabirds call the Pribilof Islands their home. The ‘‘Galapagos of the North,’’ it is sometimes called because of this teeming wildlife. You will also find in the Pribilofs the warmest, most resilient people anywhere in the world.

The Pribilofs, as well as the entire Aleutian Island chain, has a storied and, to be honest, sometimes painful history in our country—a history that has shaped Dimitri’s life. First, when Alaska was a colonial possession of Russia, Russian fur seekers decimated the Aleut Native populations on these islands through warfare, disease, and, yes, even slavery. Then, 75 years after the United States purchased Alaska during World War II, Japan invaded and occupied Kiska and Attu, the westernmost islands of Alaska’s Aleutian Island chain.

A lot of Americans don’t know that American territory was invaded and occupied by the Japanese during World War II. It was the first time since the War of 1812 that American soil had been occupied by an enemy. The Japanese dug in and held these two islands in Alaska until mid-1943, when American forces recaptured Kiska and Attu in a brutal campaign in the cold of Alaska. That campaign to retake Kiska and Attu resulted in the deaths of about 1,500 American servicemen. More than 600 were missing, and almost 3,500 were wounded in action. It was a major battle of World War II. Less well known is the impact this conflict had on the Aleut peoples of Alaska.

As a result of the invasion, nearly 900 Aleut civilian residents of the Pribilof Islands and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska were relocated to temporary internment camps in Southeast Alaska. Among those interned were Dimitri’s parents, two of his brothers, and a sister who was born in the camp. Dimitri himself jokes and laughs that, in his words, he was actually ‘‘conceived’’ in the camp.

The treatment of our American citizens—and these are great American citizens. They are patriotic. They serve in the military at higher rates than any other ethnic group in the country. The treatment of these American citizens in these camps is a dark spot in American history that not many Americans are aware of. Camps were basically abandoned buildings. The conditions were awful—crowded, unheated, and unsanitary. Some even died in the camps as a result of these horrendous conditions. These were our citizens in our country.

Yet, like so many Alaskan Natives who were not treated well by our government during this time, Dimitri, nevertheless, signed up when he was of age to serve his country in the military. In the 1960s, he joined the Army and served in the Pathfinder Detachment at Fort Rucker in Alabama. He was an Airborne soldier. Eventually, Dimitri made his way back to Alaska. He met his wife Victoria and started a family. He is the proud father of five, and he began to work at the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association. He is now the President and CEO of the Association.

The association has had numerous accomplishments under his leadership. Since 1985, it has greatly expanded its programs for the people of the Pribilofs and the Aleutians, and its budget has grown from about $2.5 million to more than $18 million to fund these important service programs under his leadership. For years, he did something that was so important that this body was involved here in the Senate.

He worked closely with Alaska’s congressional delegation at the time—Senator Ted Stevens, Senator Frank Murkowski, and Congressman Don Young —to work on educating the Congress and the Senate about this difficult history during World War II and to help pass legislation entitled the ‘‘Aleutian and Pribilof Islands Restitution Act,’’ which compensated surviving Aleut victims of the internment camps.

Again, American citizens were sent by their government during the war to internment camps in Alaska. Not many people know that history. Dimitri not only knew it, he lived it. His family lived it, but what he did was so powerful. He helped heal it. He helped heal it right here on the floor of the Senate. He then helped pass the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands Restitution Trust to oversee money allocated to rebuild some of the buildings and houses in this part of Alaska that were destroyed during the war—in the fierce battles that raged in my State during World War II that not many Americans are aware of. That is a great life and service.

Dimitri is also an artist helping to preserve Alaska Native culture through his beautiful drawings—particularly of Russian Orthodox Churches in the region—churches he has worked tirelessly to maintain throughout Alaska. These are beautiful churches. He also does an incredible Elvis Presley impersonation. He is a man of faith, of perseverance, and kindness. As I have mentioned here, and tried to highlight just a little bit of his life, he has devoted his whole life to his people, to my State, and to this great Nation.

In May, he will be recognized by his colleagues for 40 years of humanitarian service and for helping heal the wounds of this country that came about during World War II. We thank him for all he has done in his beloved Pribilofs, in Alaska, in America, and on the floor of the Senate. Dimitri, I want to thank you, once again, and congratulate you on being our Alaskan of the Week.

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