1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Mainland USA Bombed during ww2 !

Discussion in 'History Forum' started by robycop3, Jun 6, 2020.

  1. robycop3

    robycop3 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2000
    Messages:
    14,362
    Likes Received:
    668
    Faith:
    Baptist
    On Sept. 9, 1942, Japanese Warrant Flying Officer Nobuo Fujita (1911-1997), & Petty Officer Okuda Shoji,(KIA, 1944)flew a Yokosuka E 14 Y seaplane, (USA class nickname "Glen") from the submarine I 25(Sunk by US destroyers off the New Hebrides, Sept. 3, 1943) to drop two incendiary bombs on Wheeler Ridge on Mt. Emily, OR. The intent was to start a large forest fire to drain US resources on the West Coast.

    Only one bomb detonated; the other failed to burst & has not been found to this day. However, the bombs were not dropped from the correct height, limiting the spread of its incendiary material, plus, it had recently rained heavily in that area, enabling officers from two fire watch towers to contain the fires til a firefithting squad arrived to extinguish them, with no damage. Fujita's plane returned safely to the sub.

    Fujita flew a 2nd such bombing mission near Cape Blanco, OR, on Sept. 29, & again returned safely, but no American spotted any fire, & the attack went unnoticed by Americans. However, on the way back to Japan, I-25 sank SS Camden, a destroyer,& SSLarry Doheny , a tanker. She also sank a Soviet sub, L-16, she mistook for an American one.

    Fujita went on to fly several more recon missions until he was sent to train kamikaze pilots. (But not to become one.) After the war, he became ashamed of his actions in the war. News of this reached Brookings, OR, which he had overflown coming & going on his 1st bombing mission, & he was invited to visit the town. He brought his family's katana that he intended to use to commit seppuku if his reception was hostile. However, Brookings treated him with affection & respect, which touched him deeply. He visited the town several more times & arranged for 3 female students from the local high school to visit Japan. Later, he helped the town raise funds for a new library, which is the largest in Oregon.

    A few days before his 1997 death, he was made an honorary citizen of Brookings.

    These were the first, and only, times the US mainland was bombed by an enemy aircraft.

    This story shows that former enemies CAN become good friends ! I hope more Americans can apply these principles to end the strife between many black & many white Americans ! AND LET'S MAKE SURE GOD IS INVOLVED ![/I]
     
    • Like Like x 1
    • Informative Informative x 1
  2. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 20, 2001
    Messages:
    10,544
    Likes Received:
    1,558
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Interesting. Thanks.
     
  3. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
    Administrator

    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2003
    Messages:
    38,982
    Likes Received:
    2,615
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Not quite totally correct - well paraphrasing President Clinton: "it depends on what the meaning of aircraft is"?

    Several people were killed by bombs sent by the Japanese in May of 1945. How were the bombs transported?

    Read the link here
     
  4. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2012
    Messages:
    52,624
    Likes Received:
    2,742
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Also had "battle over LA" when army shot off some 1400 rounds at something!
     
    • Informative Informative x 1
  5. robycop3

    robycop3 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2000
    Messages:
    14,362
    Likes Received:
    668
    Faith:
    Baptist
    You're right- I shoulda said, "MANNED aircraft". The bomb that killed 6 people in Oregon, 5 of them children, had arrived via a balloon launched from Japan, released so it'd rise into the jet stream & arribve in the USA 2 days later. Several other balloon bombs had arrived, one going as far east as Wyoming, but the one in Oregon was the only one to have harmed any people.

    While the US military knew of the bombs, censorship had prevented the Japanese from learning whether any had reached the US or not. ironically, they had ceased making/releasing the balloons several days before the fatalities, believing they weren't working.

    However, it's estimated that around a thousand bombs have made the journey, and over the years, several unexploded bombs have been found in the Oregon & Washington area. Anyone going thru the forests there should be aware that there may be yet more unexploded bombs lost in those forests.
     
    • Informative Informative x 1
  6. HankD

    HankD Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    May 14, 2001
    Messages:
    26,977
    Likes Received:
    2,536
    Faith:
    Baptist
    • Informative Informative x 1
  7. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
    Administrator

    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2003
    Messages:
    38,982
    Likes Received:
    2,615
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Roby - are you sexist??? How do you know that some of those pilots wern't females??:D :Inlove :Whistling :Rolleyes
     
  8. HankD

    HankD Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    May 14, 2001
    Messages:
    26,977
    Likes Received:
    2,536
    Faith:
    Baptist
    PEOPLED AIRCRAFT! :Roflmao
     
  9. robycop3

    robycop3 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2000
    Messages:
    14,362
    Likes Received:
    668
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Because the only aircraft mission that bombed the USA, flown by a human, was flown by a man. And, he needed a target the size of a forest to hit. A woman would've had a much-smaller target, such as a speck of bird doo on a rooftop, & she woulda hit it !
     
  10. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
    Administrator

    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2003
    Messages:
    38,982
    Likes Received:
    2,615
    Faith:
    Baptist
    cant argue with that!
     
  11. Centrist

    Centrist Active Member

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2020
    Messages:
    300
    Likes Received:
    33
    Faith:
    Non Baptist Christian
    Edited for accuracy....

    I think is when the ferris wheel was accidentally hit by AA fire and sent the ferris wheel rolling down the dock into the ocean....(a movie with Alan Arkin told of that)
     
  12. robycop3

    robycop3 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2000
    Messages:
    14,362
    Likes Received:
    668
    Faith:
    Baptist
    The "battle over LA" occurred when the general in charge of air defense for that area declared he believed an air raid was coming. Therefore, some jittery AA crews loosed off at a small cloud, or something they said they saw in the sky, which prompted others to shoot in that general area. Everyone soon became a little more-relaxed, knowing those AA men were on the job !
     
    • Informative Informative x 1
  13. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2012
    Messages:
    52,624
    Likes Received:
    2,742
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Even read some stories that claimed that they were shooting at a "Ufo"
     
  14. rsr

    rsr <b> 7,000 posts club</b>
    Moderator

    Joined:
    Dec 11, 2001
    Messages:
    11,850
    Likes Received:
    1,084
    Faith:
    Baptist
    • Like Like x 1
  15. robycop3

    robycop3 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2000
    Messages:
    14,362
    Likes Received:
    668
    Faith:
    Baptist
    As Arte Johnson would say...

    Verrrry Interesting !

    Bombing accidents can be very costly! The nazis accidentally bombed Rotterdam, Netherlands. They were supposed to just fly over it to demonstrate their potential, but someone didn't "get the word", & bombede it instead, killing nearly 900 &leaving 85 K homeless. And several times in WW2, our bombers accidentally bombed our own troops, killing or injuring many.

    Just remember, "Friendly fire - ISN'T !"
     
  16. Centrist

    Centrist Active Member

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2020
    Messages:
    300
    Likes Received:
    33
    Faith:
    Non Baptist Christian
    Hmmm. I remember when I was a kid they found one of the Japanese ballon bombers on Grand Mesa (a prominant mountain in Western Colorado). That's when I first heard of it.
    There was a story about some of the Japanese internees that had earned a trusted status and were allowed to travel unescorted around the Grand Valley until a couple of them were caught tampering with the railroad east of Palisade Colorado. I think after that the majority of the Japanese were shipped off, and replaced with European POWs.
     
  17. robycop3

    robycop3 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2000
    Messages:
    14,362
    Likes Received:
    668
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I'm trying to find out intel about Americans caught in Japan when the war broke out.
     
Loading...