Moses Gordieff Interview

Moses Gordieff as a young man, and (right) at a bentwood hat workshop at Camp Qungaayux̂.

Left: Moses Gordieff
Right: David Gregory

As part of the "Beginning of Memory Project," Ray Hudson conducted interviews with Unangax̂/Aleuts who were forced to evacuate from their homes during World War II. Many of the evacuees from the Aleutians faced years away from their childhood homes, sometimes in deplorable camps. Many communities - the "Lost Villages" - were never resettled.

Moses Gordieff was born in Unalaska in 1939. He was just 6 years old when he returned to Unalaska following evacuation to Southeastern Alaska during the war. His mother and father, Molly and Peter Lukanin, consented to his adoption by Myria and John Gordieff while at Wrangle after they fell ill with TB and could no longer care for him.

Download a full transcript of Moses' interview.

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Men in their National Guard uniforms. Left to right: John Borenin, Kusta Lekanoff, William "Coco" Yatchmenoff, Simeon Lekanoff, and Moses Gordieff.

Courtesy of Jennie Lekanoff