Gertrude Sivarni was raised on the Illusion Islands off the Alaskan mainland.

She's still there today in the tiny city of Analaska.

She lives in the house her parents bought in 1934.

That's a long time ago.

Back then we were very busy, subsisting, gathering berries, digging clams, fishing.

I had a very happy childhood.

Gertrude is 92 now. When she was growing up back in the 30s, there were just 300 people

in Analaska.

About half were white, including Gertr's father.

The other half were native Alaskans.

The people known as the Yunonga.

Gertr's mother was Yunonga.

My mom always talked to us about our culture and the way we lived and she taught us quite

a bit about surviving out here.

People in remote Analaska meant knowing how to cure fish and how to make it through the

winters.

And actually it's not that cold here.

Our problem was the wind in the storms.

The day Gert and I spoke, the wind was gusting outside her house at 60 miles per hour.

The Yunonga could have persevered through those kinds of harsh conditions for thousands

of years.

But on the morning of June 3rd, 1942, survival meant something very different.

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