Tag: Oregon

Remembering the Imperial Japanese Bombing of Oregon

This is an interesting historical footnote from World War II:

Deep in the forests of southwestern Oregon is a redwood sapling — a peace offering at the site of an act of war.

Friday marks the 81st anniversary of the end of the only enemy aerial bombing campaign to strike the continental United States during World War II. 

The plan was to firebomb the vast forests of America’s northwest in retaliation for the April 18, 1942, Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. The Japanese hoped their modest effort would torch millions of acres of trees and deprive the U.S. defense industry of tons of wood crucial to the war effort. The Americans would have to send thousands of troops to fight the fires.

Nobuo Fujita, a veteran Japanese Navy pilot, advocated the attack and was given the honor of taking the war to the American home front. 

Twice he would fly his submarine-launched floatplane over the forests near Brookings, Ore., release his bombs and make his way to a rendezvous with the I-25 transport submarine waiting for him off the coast.

Though Fujita did not know it at the time, nearly all the bombs fizzled. An alert student forest ranger stomped out one small flare-up. The wet forest floors took care of the rest.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Korean Man Arrested at Guam Airport for Rape Charge in Oregon

I wonder if this guy forgot that Guam is part of the United States?:

A man wanted in connection with sex crimes in Oregon was apprehended on Guam after he arrived here on a flight from South Korea, according to a written statement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The 59-year-old man, who is not named in the statement, is wanted on charges of rape in the first degree, sodomy in the first degree and two counts of sex abuse in the first degree, according to the statement.

The South Korean man arrived on a flight Oct. 19 and was taken into custody by Customs and Border Protection.  [Pacific Daily News]