The Japanese Bombed Oregon!?

Yes, it's true. During World War Two, Japanese bombs struck the United States mainland. Unlike today's 24-hour news networks, the American news media kept these attacks a secret during the war .

On February 23, 1942, a Japanese submarine launched a bomb at a Pacific Coast oil refinery in the small town of Goleta near Santa Barbara, California. Even though there were only minor damages (a catwalk and a pumphouse were destroyed) and no casualties, this was the first attack on the American mainland during World War Two.

Another Japanese submarine surfaced in Oregon's Columbia River in June 1942. A bomb was launched and again there were no casualties and physical damage was minor: a baseball field backstop near Fort Stevens.

On September 9th and 29th, 1942, Japanese planes attempted to start major forest fires by dropping incendiary bombs near Brookings, Oregon. In both bombing attempts, there were no casualties or major damage thanks to the quick responses and efforts by fire lookout officers. This was the first time that the continental United States was attacked by aircraft. Strangely, no trace of the second plane's dropped bomb was ever found.

From 1944 to 1945, the Japanese launched an estimated 900 "fire balloons" at the American mainland. In Japan, this operation was known as "Fu-Go." Each of these fire balloons were made of paper, inflated with hydrogen, and carrying 5-kilogram incendiary bombs. The only one of these 900 balloon bombs to cause any major damage landed near Bly, Oregon. A local family, the Mitchells, was picnicking in the forest. One of the Mitchell children attempted to dislodge a balloon caught in a tree, causing the bomb to explode. Six members of the Mitchell family died: five children and their mother.

A memorial to the Mitchell family was erected and still stands in the forest near Bly, Oregon.

Strangely, only 300 out of the 900 launched balloon bombs were ever found in 17 states, including states as far away as Michigan and Iowa. Ten years after the end of the war, the last balloon bomb was found. Over sixty years have past, but there may still be unexploded "Fo-Go"s still around; and they could still be considered armed and dangerous, detonated by the slightest contact.

An odder footnote: in 1945, one of the fire balloons got caught on a power line near the Manhattan Project production site at Hanford, Washington, causing a short circuit. The power line pumped electricity to the nuclear reactor's cooling pumps, creating a code red alert. It took three days to restore power. The devastation that might have been caused by an explosion of one of these simple balloon-bombs in this nuclear facility could have dwarfed 9/11.

A final footnote: These attacks on the American mainland were perceived to be Japanese revenge for General Jimmy Doolittle's aerial raid on Tokyo on April 18, 1942. This was the first United States attack on Japanese soil.

SOURCES:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_balloon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attacks_on_North_America_during_World_War_II

"The Fu-Go Project", Carmine A. Priolo, American Heritage Magazine, URL: (http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1982/3/1982_3_88.shtml)

"Bombs Fall on Oregon: Japanese Attacks on the State", URL: (http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/exhibits/ww2/threat/bombs.htm)

"The Great Japanese Balloon Offensive", Master Sergeant Cornelius W. Conley, Air University Review, URL: (http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1968/jan-feb/conley.html)

http://www.af.mil/news/airman/0298/bombsb.htm

http://www.brookingsharbororegon.com/southern_oregon_coast/mt_emily_bombsite.cfm