On August 28, 1942, the U.S. Naval submarines, USS Triton and USS Tuna, surfaced 4 miles due east of this beach and disembarked a 37-man U.S. Army intelligence-gathering unit led by Colonel Lawrence V. Castner. The unit was known as The Alaska Scouts, or more affectionately as Castner's Cutthroats. Their mission was to gather information about the Japanese troop strength on Adak and to report their findings to the landing force already on its way from Dutch Harbor. No enemy troops were found, and on August 30, a 17-ship landing force with 4,500 men and tons of heavy equipment arrived. Their mission: to build an airstrip and troop staging area in preparation for the retaking of the enemy-occupied Aleutian Islands of Attu and Kiska.