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And now a web page from our “Sunday Morning” Almanac: September ninth, 1942, 76 years in the past right now … the day the US mainland got here beneath enemy assault throughout World Conflict II.
On September 9, 1942, the U.S. mainland was firebombed by Japanese pilot Nobou Fujita.
CBS Information
For that was the day Japanese pilot Nobuo Fujita firebombed a forest close to Brookings, Oregon.
Launched from a submarine off the Pacific Coast, Fujita piloted his aircraft to a spot simply north of the California border and drop two incendiary bombs. As he described years later, “The mission scared the daylights out of me. I didn’t suppose I’d come again alive.”
He dropped two incendiary bombs, neither of which touched off the large hearth he had hoped for. And regardless of his fears, he did make it again alive.
Twenty years later, Fujita made a return journey to Brookings – this time as a visitor on the annual azalea pageant.
Japan’s pilot Nobou Fujita presents a sword to the city of Brookings, Ore.
CBS Information
“I didn’t understand how folks would react to me,” he stated. “I believed they’d throw rocks or eggs, or worse.”
Although some objected to his go to, no objects had been thrown, and he introduced the city with a samurai sword as a gesture of peace.
Nobou Fujita paid different visits to Brookings, earlier than dying in 1997 on the age of 85.
His sword stays on show on the Brookings library, whereas his wartime mission continues to be remembered right now on a really particular Oregon path, generally known as the Bombsite Path.
For more information:
Story produced by Cai Thomas.
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