Cape Blanco State Park

Oregon Coast

This morning we were at the Cape Blanco State Park on the Oregon coast. The campground was lovely and sits on a high bluff. You have to walk down a steep trail to get to the beach. The temperature is still in the 60 degree Fahrenheit range with the wind off the cold Pacific. It's one of the most lovely State Parks in the country. The campsites are separated by high shrubbery, flowers and trees.

All the beaches up here have concentrations of beached driftwood trees that float in on the high tides and end up high on the beach.

We're moving about 20 miles north every two days. Today we're in the Bullard's Beach Oregon State Park. I have a fishing trip scheduled out in the Pacific Ocean at 6 AM in the morning. We will be looking for bottomfish. Rock Fish are the usual but I might get lucky with a Ling Cod.

Early on the morning of September 9, 1942, the Japanese submarine I-25 surfaced off Brookings. The crew quickly assembled a specially designed seaplane, and within a few minutes pilot Nobuo Fujita, observer Shoji Okuda, and two 170 pound incendiary bombs were catapulted airborne.

The plane flew toward Cape Blanco Lighthouse and crossed the coastline, following a course southeast for about 50 miles to drop its payload on Wheeler Ridge and become the first enemy aircraft to bomb the US mainland.

The incendiary bombs dropped by Fujita merely smoldered due to the typically wet Oregon forest conditions. However, Fujita is, apparently, the only person to ever bomb the Continental US from the air.

Fujita made several trips to the U.S. after the war. He presented a 400 year old family samurai sword to the town of Brookings  and made deep and sincere apologies to the Oregon forest. His remains are now located near the site where his incendiary bombs fizzled.

Fujita's heroic accomplishment is virtually unknown in Japan. When you are a soldier, sailor or airman and you bravely defend your country in wartime it all counts for next to nothing if you lose the war.

I know. I had to actually listen politely to lectures from silly old ladies and old men about the Vietnam war. You might have thought that they had actually been there with me.