Japan Bombs Oregon - Part 2

            Japan’s efforts to cause giant forest fires through the use of submarine-based floatplanes ceased after underwhelming effects. Another means was tried in November, 1944.

            This time, the Japanese launched balloons from Japan to drift eastward on the prevailing winds. The balloons carried explosive and incendiary bombs to ignite forest fires and spread panic. In the ensuing months, over 9,000 balloons were launched, with at least 340 reaching the western United States and Canada.

            The ingeniously-designed balloons varied in size, but many measured about 33 feet in diameter, and 70 feet from the top of the balloon to the payload at the bottom. The first ones were made of paraffined paper; later ones were fabricated silk and latex. Their payload consisted of four incendiary bombs and a 33-pound anti-personnel bomb.

            The journey from Japan took three to five days at an altitude of about 35,000 feet, traveling at speeds between 80 and 120 miles per hour. As hydrogen gas bled from the balloons, the balloons descended in altitude. When they dropped below 25,000 feet, a barometric pressure switch would cause one of several sand-filled paper bags serving as ballast to be dropped, and the balloons rose back to 35,000 feet. This up and down flight carried the balloons across the Pacific Ocean.

            By the time they reached the North American coast, they should have used up their supply of ballast sandbags. The bombs then became ballast, with one bomb dropping whenever the balloon dropped to 25,000 feet. When the bombs were depleted, a fuse ignited and destroyed the balloon in a bright fireball.

            Witnesses saw some explode in the air. Other balloons were found on the ground, usually without bombs, but occasionally with bombs still attached. They traveled as far as Michigan and Texas. Most were sighted or found in British Columbia, Oregon, California, Washington, and Montana. Minor forest fires of unknown causes may have been started by the balloons in California and Oregon.

            The first balloon was found in Montana in December, 1944. Analysis of the beach sand in the ballast bag determined it came from Japan. To avoid encouraging the Japanese to continue launching balloons, strict censorship was imposed. The balloons were not considered to a hazard to the public.

            That changed on May 5, 1945. Reverend Archie Mitchell and his wife Elsie took five young teens on a picnic east of Bly, Oregon. While Mitchell parked the car, the others hiked into the woods. They called to him that they’d found something that looked like a balloon. He’d heard of the Japanese weapons, and shouted a warning not to touch it.

            Too late. An explosion killed the six.

            Censorship was lifted so the public could be informed of the existence of this hazard. More unexploded bombs were likely to be found in remote areas. The Japanese were unlikely to gain any advantage from the disclosure at this point. As it was later learned, the Japanese had scaled down and eventually discontinued using the balloons, considering them as ineffective as the floatplane-delivered bombs since they had heard of so few balloons reaching their target.

            Mrs. Elsie Mitchell, 26, Edward Engen, 13, Jay Gifford, 13, Richard Patzke, 14, Joan Patzke, 13, and Sherman Shoemaker, 11, were the only American civilians killed in the continental United States during World War II.

            Japanese school children had made many of the balloons. In 1987, several folded 1,000 paper cranes, a Japanese symbol of healing and peace, and sent them to the families of the slain picnickers. They wrote:

            “We participated in the building of weapons used to kill people without understanding much beyond the knowledge that America was our adversary in a war. To think that the weapons we made took your lives as you were out on a picnic! We were overwhelmed with deep sorrow.”

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red

            A Facebook friend posted pictures from her trip to London. Having been there, I enjoyed perusing them. A surprise greeted me with the Tower of London photos. A sea of red flowed from the Tower.

From August 5, Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red has on display at the Tower of London, marking one hundred years since Britain's involvement began in World War I. Ceramic poppies have progressively filled the Tower's moat. It ends today on Remembrance Day, November 11, the date the armistice ended the war in 1918. Each of the 888,246 ceramic poppies represents a British military fatality in the war. 

Photos by Richard Lea-Hair

            Why poppies?

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

     Canadian Lt. Col. John McCrae wrote this poem early in World War I, before the disillusionment that came as the years dragged on. The poem so inspired Moina Michael of the American Young Women's Christian Association that she wrote a poem of her own.

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,

Sleep sweet - to rise anew!

We caught the torch you threw

And holding high, we keep the Faith

With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red

That grows on fields where valor led;

It seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never deis,

But lends a lustre to the red

Of the flower that blooms above the dead

In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red

We wear in honor of our dead.

Fear not that ye have died for naught;

We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought

In Flanders Fields.

     

 Moina wore a red silk poppy pinned to her coat at a YWCA Overseas War Secretaries' Conference in November, 1918, and gave out twenty-five more. She sought to have the poppy adopted as a national symbol of remembrance.
     The National American Legion did adopt the poppy as their official symbol of remembrance at a 1920 conference. Attending was a French woman, Anna Guérin, who began selling artificial poppies. She sent her sellers to London in 1921, where the poppy was adopted by Field Marshal Douglas Haig, a founder of the Royal British Legion.

The poppies at the Tower of London will now be sold for £25 (about $40) and will benefit charities.

         Have you ever wondered why service organizations sell poppies at stores' entrances on Veteran's Day?

Japan Bombs Oregon Part 1

            The Doolittle Raid on Japan in April of 1942 did little physical damage, but deeply embarrassed the Japanese high command. They wanted revenge.

            They sent their submarines to the American west coast to raid shipping and attack U.S. warships bound for Alaska and the Aleutian Islands.

            Sub I-25 slipped through minefields under the cover of a fishing fleet near Astoria, Oregon, and fired on Fort Stevens on June 21, 1942. Shells cratered the beach and a skunk cabbage patch, damaged a baseball diamond's backstop, and nicked a power line.

            The submarine returned on September 9. A seaplane with its wings and tail folded was tucked into a hangar on the sub's deck. The seaplane was catapulted off the sub with Nobuo Fujita at the controls. He carried two 176-pound incendiary bombs under his wings. The Japanese intent was to ignite a devastating forest fire that would spread to cities, destroying homes and factories, demoralize and panic Americans, and divert resources from the war.

            A forest service lookout near the town of Brookings spotted the plane flying directly toward him. He thought it strange, as most planes flew along the coast, not west to east, and the plane was too small to have flown across the Pacific from Japan. He radioed the Forest Fire Headquarters of his sighting.

            Another lookout, Howard Gardner, heard what sounded like a Model A Ford backfiring. He, too, spotted the plane circling through the fog and reported it. The operator believed he had seen a patrol plane; nothing to worry about.

            Fujita dropped his bombs in the forest from a height of 500 feet, circled once to observe the impact, and flew back to the sub. The plane was hoisted aboard, folded up and returned to the hangar, and the sub withdrew.

            When the fog lifted, Gardner spotted smoke he suspected resulted from a lightning strike the previous day. He called for help, grabbed some equipment, and set off for the fire. A coworker joined him, and they found smoldering fires in a 50' to 75' circular area. After controlling the fires, they discovered a foot-deep crater at the center. Fused ground and rocks indicated an intense heat.

            A fir tree struck by the bomb appeared to have been struck by lightning. An oak tree had been sheared off. Bomb fragments found at the site led to the conclusion an American plane had accidently dropped it. Only when the nose cone and a casing fragment with Japanese markings were found the next day did it become clear who'd done it.

            The Army and FBI investigated, and tried to keep the incident secret. Newspapers, however, picked up the story and ran it. Oregon officials used the bombing to raise awareness and the possibility of enemy attacks, and raise the morale of civilian defense workers who felt their efforts were a waste because nothing could happen there.

            Dissatisfied with the results, the Japanese returned for another attempt three weeks later. It too failed. They hadn't realized that damp forests will not support a forest fire in the autumn.

Nobuo Fujita

             Fujita survived the war and returned to Oregon in 1962, full of remorse for bombing U.S. soil. He presented the town of Brookings with his family's 400-year-old samurai sword in a gesture of good will. It may be seen in the Brookings library.

Hawaiian Island Seized Following Pearl Harbor Attack

One of the lesser known incidents of World War II occurred during the week of the Pearl Harbor attack on Sunday, December 7, 1941.

In their briefing before they attacked the American naval base, Japanese pilots were told to head for the westernmost Hawaiian Island, Niihau, if they had airplane trouble. A submarine assigned to rescue duty would pick them up.

Twenty-two year old Zero fighter pilot Shigenori Nishikaichi flew escort of a flight of bombers during the attack. During an aerial dogfight with a flight of obsolete Curtiss P-36A fighters, Nishikaichi’s gas tank was punctured. He wouldn’t make it make to his carrier, the Hiryu. Niihau lay 130 miles to the west. Along with another damaged Zero, he headed for the island.

When they reached the eighteen-mile-long, six-mile-wide island, they discovered Japanese intelligence was wrong. The island of Niihau, owned by the Robinson family since 1864, was home to 136 residents, mostly native Hawaiians whose primary language was Hawaiian.

Unsure what to do, they turned away. The other pilot suddenly dove into the sea. Nishikaichi headed back to the island and made a rough landing in a pasture near a lone house. The plane’s wheel hit a fence, causing the plane to nose in. His safety harness broke free and Nishikaichi slammed into the instrument panel.

The home’s occupant, Howard Kaleohano, pulled the pilot out of his plane, along with his gun and official-looking papers. He took him to his house, where his wife served him breakfast. Since Nishikaichi spoke limited English, the Kaleohanos summoned 60-year-old Ishimatsu Shintani, who was born in Japan but had lived in Hawaii for over forty years.

Shintani was reluctant to get involved. After a brief conversation with the pilot, he looked shocked and left without telling the Kaleohanos what was said.

Next they brought Yoshio and Irene Harada, Japanese Americans whom the Niihauans considered more Japanese than Hawaiian. Nishikaichi informed them of the attack on Pearl, but the Haradas did not relay that crucial information to their neighbors.

The rescue sub never came; it had been ordered to proceed toward Oahu in the early afternoon.

Niihau had no electricity or telephones. Unaware of the attack, the islanders held a luau for the pilot. That night, the islanders heard a report of the attack on a battery-operated radio.

The next morning, they took Nishikaichi to the dock where Aylmer Robinson was expected to arrive for his weekly visit. Unknown to them, in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack, all boat traffic had been banned in the channel between Niihau and Kauai, where Robinson lived. Robinson didn’t come.

While they waited, Nishikaichi and Harada spoke privately. The pilot told Harada that Japan would surely win the war if Pearl’s lack of defense was any indication. He lured Harada into treason.

A stone column was erected in Shigenori Nishikaichi’s honor in his hometown in Japan. He died in battle over Oahu, claims the inscription. “His meritorious deed will live forever.”

By Thursday, they’d gotten Shintani involved. They sent him to the home of Howard Kaleohano to demand the return of Nishikaichi’s documents, which the pilot had been told should not fall into American possession. Kaleohano refused to return them.

Harada stole a pistol and a shotgun from the Robinson’s unused ranch house. He and the pilot overpowered the Niihauan guard assigned to watch Nishikaichi while Irene Harada played a phonograph record to drown any sounds of struggle.

Harada and Nishikaichi went to Kaleohano’s house for the papers. When they didn’t find him at home, they went to the crashed plane, apparently to try to use its radio. They forced the 16-year-old guarding the plane to accompany them back to Kaleohano’s house. This time they found him there. Harada fired at him, but missed. Kaleohano escaped, and warned the islanders before heading to the northern tip of the island to build a signal fire.

The overpowered guard escaped from the warehouse he’d been locked in, and added his own warning. The Niihauans scattered to remote parts of the island.

That night, Kaleohano and five other men rowed against the wind on a ten-hour journey to Kauai. With Kaleohano’s report, Aylmer Robinson was finally allowed to mount a rescue mission. It would arrive too late.

Meanwhile, Nishikaichi and Harada captured Kaahakila Kalima, whom Harada sent to inform his wife that he would not be returning home that night. Nishikaichi and Harada walked through the deserted village, firing their weapons and yelling for Kaleohano.

After delivering the message, Kalima had joined his wife and Ben and Ella Kanahele on the beach. When the men went back to the village looking for food, they were captured by the enemy duo. After searching Kaleohano’s house for Nishikaichi’s papers to no avail, they burned the house down. They forced Ben Kanahele, a powerful, six-foot, forty-nine-year-old, to find Kaleohano. Ben knew Howard had gone to Kauai, but pretended to search.

Nishikaichi threatened to murder all the islanders if Kaleohano wasn’t found. Ben demanded in Hawaiian that Harada take away Nishikaichi’s pistol. Harada refused, but asked the pilot for the shotgun.

By this time, Friday night, Nishikaichi was exhausted. As he handed the shotgun to Harada, Ben lunged for him. Nishikaichi managed to pull his pistol from his boot and shot Ben in the chest, groin, and hip. Undaunted, Ben grabbed him and threw him against a stone wall. Ella bashed his head with a rock. Ben then slit Nishikaichi’s throat with a knife.

Harada rammed the shotgun into his mouth and killed himself. The hostile takeover ended.

Ben Kanahehe recovered from his wounds and received the Medal of Merit and the Purple Heart. His wife received no official recognition. Ishimatsu Shintani spent the war years interned on the mainland. Irene Harada was imprisoned until late 1944.

Benehakaka (Ben) Kanahele holds his Medal of Merit and Purple Heart.

The actions of the three Japanese Hawaiians, according to a Navy report in January, 1942, indicated “the likelihood that Japanese residents previously believed loyal to the United States may aid Japan.” There’s a good chance the Niihau incident helped persuade the government to intern over 100,000 people with Japanese ancestry away from the West Coast.

For further reading:

The Niihau Incident: The True Story of the Japanese Fighter Pilot Who, After the Pearl Harbor Attack, Crash-Landed on the Hawaiian Island of Niihau and Terrorized the Residents  by Allan Beekman