Leave Your Incendiaries At Home: Nobuo Fujita

Transcript

WEBVTT

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way there, wow, hey there did that one catch you off guard yeah, you startled me, I'm sorry.

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Welcome to history, buffoons.

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I'm kate and, and I'm Bradley.

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And I startle easily.

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That is true, yeah, yeah.

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Okay, so I'm rather excited because I have a beverage in front of me that I've been wanting for quite some time.

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Well, we've been wanting it during a podcast because we haven't been able to find it.

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Yes.

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And I happened to be at a store the other day and I'm like holy shit, there it is it like sang to me like oh, and there was like a cannon fire yeah, and like the heavens opened up right and there's a hallelujah chorus and yeah, yeah, actually that really all happened.

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Yeah, and like a beacon was, you were just like zeroed in like moth to a flame I think the funny thing is it was just probably the radio and a light was over it, but yeah, but you know I, I saw it and I'm like I happen to be there, I'm like I'm gonna look, because I I don't think I did you were at a grocery store or a liquor store?

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no, it was a liquor store, okay and um.

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So I'm like I wanted to look here.

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I don't believe I have yet.

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And I'm looking in the cider area and uh, I'm like oh, they're seattle cider.

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Nope, nope, nope.

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And I'm like I looked up, I'm like fuck it, they don't have it either way.

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I'm like wait a minute.

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Holy shit, there it is yeah, so it is.

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Yeah, so it's called Basil Mint.

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It is a hard cider from Seattle Cider Company.

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Yep.

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And alcohol content is 6.9% and it is a sipper.

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Yeah, it's not one you're going to pound.

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It's not like an Angry Orchard where you can just go to pound town on those because they're super sweet.

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Right, this one is not super sweet.

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No, go to pound town on those because they're super sweet, right?

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Um, this one is not super sweet, but um.

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So our favorite bar that we go to um in elk cart lake, wisconsin, has this and they're really good about having like obscure options for their patrons, even their their tap handles, it's not like you.

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Don't go there and order a mill Lite.

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Right, which is awesome in my opinion.

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Yeah, Because fuck Miller Lite.

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So I saw this advertised on their little screen full of, you know, beers, and I was like basil mint.

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That sounds really interesting.

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I'm not a huge cider person.

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I can drink it, obviously, but I'd rather have a beer, you know, sure.

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So I tried this and, holy man, you're like.

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This is amazing.

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This is amazing, um.

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So there's actually like a little bar on the can that says whether it's more sweet or more dry, and this one is towards, um, the middle, but on the dry side, yep.

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And it says it's made from fresh pressed Washington apples.

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Huzzah for.

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Washington.

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Yeah, so I'm super excited that you found this, and it's really really cold, which I'm loving Excited about yes.

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There you go.

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Yes, cheers, cheers, yep.

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There it is that, basil.

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It adds a really unique flavor to the apple it does, it's so good yeah, I'm really, uh, I'm actually quite fond of this one too have you ever had basil on your eggs, like hard-boiled or not hard-boiled, um fried hard eggs?

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I don't think so.

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Is it pretty?

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good, yeah, I actually really really like it.

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I guess I never even would have thought of doing that.

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I don't know why I would have.

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Yeah well, I won't go there anyway.

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Um so we're drinking a washington drink, but my story actually takes place in oregon oh, not too far off not too far off.

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Have you ever been to oregon?

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I have never been to the pacific northwest oh, it's lovely I've heard many a tale, yeah, except I heard a lot of people died from dysentery out there on the oregon trail oh, I was like what do?

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You ever play that game when you?

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Oh yeah you died of dysentery.

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Yeah, oh man actually my mom gave me.

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Well, she recommended an oregon trail book, uh, specifically as a topic for our podcast so that might be coming in our future.

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Yeah, that's right, um but yeah, that was yeah is that where the donner, the donner party died?

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No, is that no?

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that was up in like a mountain pass, but up that way though, right.

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Yeah, I want to say it was like Idaho Utah.

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That could be up that way, though, something like that.

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But yeah, they had to travel a really long distance.

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And they got just swamped with snow and they got stuck.

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Yeah, yeah.

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It was tough to travel back in those days.

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Yeah, a little bit, but you know I've been told that um I pick some sad stories you do so I was encouraged to pick something more challenge to pick up something more uplifting and I found one holy shit I know, I'm really excited.

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I know, in oregon, no less.

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Well, yeah, I didn't know anything was happy there.

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I'm just kidding.

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Again, I don't know the state, I'm just really excited not to be depressed after we're done.

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Yeah, so we're going to go back to World War II, oh, dear, because nothing bad happened.

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Then, oh, my word, okay we, because nothing bad had bad happened then, oh, my word, okay, we're gonna set the stage here okay, please do okay, so pearl harbor was when I know do you december 7th 1941, sure was, and on december 8th the us joined the war.

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But what happened on december?

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6th nothing, just a bad memory did the status quo remain the same on december six?

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Oh my god we're just we're just quoting another podcast episode.

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Now let's move on so there were several underlying reasons for the pearl harbor attack right so japan tried to expand in asia, trying to control resources and territory, and that that policy led to conflict with the united states, which was interested in maintaining, like, open trade in the region.

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Sure, the united states had imposed economic sanctions on japan in response to its aggression in asia.

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Okay, so these sanctions were hurting the japanese economy and japan saw them as a threat sure so japan had been building up its military in preparation for war.

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So oh, lovely the attack on pearl harbor was like a preemptive strike, right to disable the us public fleet and give japan like an advantage.

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Yeah, correct, yeah.

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So at this time, the us public fleet and give japan like an advantage?

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Yeah, correct, yeah.

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So at this time the us economy was still actually recovering from the great depression.

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Yep, so the the country entered the war in 1991.

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Unemployment rates were pretty high 1991 1941?

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Why do I keep misspeaking it's numbers?

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that's why I don't do numbers very well.

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You don't math very good I really don't.

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I don't year either.

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So um, unemployment rates were high in 1941, there it is, and industries were struggling.

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However, the war effort provided a significant boost yeah, the the war pretty much helped us get out of it.

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Yes, yes, so the great depression left millions of americans jobless and the war did provide opportunity to put people back to work.

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The government um the government spending on military equipment supplies and services stimulated growth and industry shifted from producing consumer goods to producing war materials, and that led in a surge of manufacturing activity that's why, like even have you ever seen one of the I don't know what you call it a silver penny from back in the war times, because they needed all the copper for, for military things bullets and guns and whatever.

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I didn't know that.

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I have a couple of them.

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They're actually at my parents' I have a little not a huge coin collection from back in the day, but I have a few of those.

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They're actually kind of cool because they're like silver.

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Yeah.

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But it was all during the war because they needed the copper.

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That's awesome, yeah.

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So, to ensure fair distribution of resources, the government implemented rationing and price controls, and this helped prevent inflation as well.

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Okay, so yes, in essence, the war essentially got America out of the Great Depression Right.

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So the year is 1942, and it was a pivotal year in the Pacific theater of World War II.

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The US and Japan fought a series of major battles, with significant implications, of course, for war.

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So the most notable battle is battle of the coral sea, which happened early may of 1942.

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Okay, and this was the first naval battle in history where the opposing forces did not exchange a single shot.

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Oh, wow both sides relied on aircraft carriers to launch airstrikes against each other oh okay, the battle was a tactical draw, but it prevented the japanese from capturing port mosby, which is a strategic location in new guinea okay um.

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There was also the battle of midway, which happened in early june of 1942 that's a very popular so movies and shit for about that one yeah, I don't think I have seen the midway.

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I haven't seen there was like a newer one that came out.

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What in the last, I think, two, three, four years, whatever, yeah, maybe, yeah.

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But I know, like my dad again huge, especially the naval side, because he was in the Navy.

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Yeah, he loved reading about the Battle of Midway and everything and such.

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Did he listen to Juno?

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about the Juno my dad isn't what you call very technical savvy Sure, so if we could put it in book form maybe.

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I mean, I guess we could.

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We could be authors.

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I could print out the transcript.

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Yes, you could, so yeah.

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So the Battle of Midway was a victory for the United States.

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The Japanese planned to capture Midway Island, which was a US base in the Central Pacific.

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However, the Navy intercepted Japanese radio transmissions, allowing them to set a trap Okay, transmissions allowing them to set a trap?

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Okay.

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The us launched a surprise air attack on the japanese fleet, sinking four aircraft carriers and crippling the japanese naval air power in the pacific.

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Wow, and then you might recall the battle of guadalupe canal yeah aka the first episode that we have done on history.

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Buffoons that is called.

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You know about the juno do you know about?

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This one lasted from august 7th 42 to february 9th 43 oh wow so, just to recap, it was um a bloody campaign for control of guadalcanal, which is in the solomon islands.

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Okay, the us marines landed on the island in august 42, but faced fierce resistance from Japanese forces.

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The battle lasted for several months, with both sides suffering heavy casualties.

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Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

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That's okay, you'll get there.

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I will.

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So the US eventually succeeded in driving the Japanese from Guadalcanal.

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And then there was the Battle of the eastern solomons, which was august, mid-august 1942.

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Okay, and that was another naval battle of the solomon islands.

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Gotcha, the japanese attempted to to reinforce their troops on guadalcanal, but were intercepted by the navy.

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The battle resulted in a tactical victory for the japanese, but they suffered significant losses in aircraft carriers.

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Oh, wow, okay, so the scene is set.

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Okay, so depressing so far War.

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Just wait, I promise.

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Okay, enter Nobuo Fujita.

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Fujita.

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Like fajita, only Fujita.

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Is this the guy who flew to Washington to attack stuff but then didn't?

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Basically?

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No.

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Okay.

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We're in Oregon.

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That's what I meant.

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Oregon Shut up.

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We're talking about Washington.

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Before, too, I'm allowed to make mistakes.

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Have you heard yourself so far, hi?

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Okay, so Nobuo Fujita was born in 19, 1911 and he was a japanese naval aviator that's the same year baba venga was born 1911 yeah, that's right and ronald reagan.

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I was right, by the way, when I said that in that episode so he was a naval aviary of the imperial japanese navy, so he flew a float plane from a long-range submarine aircraft carrier, the i-25, not to be confused with the guadalcanal story, the i-26 yep, I was gonna say wait a minute I was like I had to do a little extensive research on.

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I was like, okay, wait a minute, I have to I gotta double check this thing, well, as soon as you said that, I, that's what mine went to, so that's funny so the japanese submarines, the i-25 and the i-26, are from the same class, sure?

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so?

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Uh, they were both type b submarines, which is a class of medium-sized submarines built by the imperial japanese navy.

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Okay, the type b submarines were characterized by their relatively small size, high speed and good maneuverability okay, I knocked out that word like a champ maneuverability stop saying you might fuck it up okay, they were primarily used for reconnaissance and patrol duties, although some of them were equipped with torpedoes and offensive purposes Torpedo tubes.

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So Nobuo Fujita joined the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1932.

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So he was 21.

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And became a pilot in 1933.

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Okay, he flew a Yokosuka E-14Y, a reconnaissance seaplane, and we call it the US calls it a Glenn.

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A Glenn.

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Mm-hmm.

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Okay.

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So, just like hurricanes are named after men and women's names in World War II, allied names for Japanese aircraft were given names to help identify them.

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Oh, I did not know that.

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that's kind of a neat tidbit so men's names were fighter aircraft, okay, and women's names were for bombers, oh, really, yes.

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So according to the us, he flew a glen huh I never knew they did that for that's pretty cool yeah so his plane could actually be folded up and placed inside a watertight capsule attached to the deck of the submarine sure that makes sense because obviously if they have to dive you screw it.

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Otherwise it's like, well, they left the plane behind, but my plane's floating up there.

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I think that's a target yeah, I think that's going to give us away guys so I have the specs of the, the glenn plane.

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Is there anything that you would want to know, like speed, height, wingspan, anything?

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like that.

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What?

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What's the overall?

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yeah, start with wingspan wingspan is, uh, 11 meters or 36 feet oh, oh.

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That's quite long, longer than I anticipated.

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What was the length of it?

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The length is 8.54 meters or 28 feet.

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So it was shorter than the wingspan.

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Wow, that's kind of weird.

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Okay, and how fast could it go?

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So the maximum speed was 246 kilometers per hour, which is 153 miles an hour.

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That's still pretty quick.

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What was its range?

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Because obviously it was like this is one that had to fly lower right.

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Yes, so that one the range is 881 kilometers, or 547 miles, that's still a pretty good distance.

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Yeah, okay, all right.

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Yeah, Cool huh.

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Yeah, I think I'm satisfied with my specs.

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Awesome, I can continue now, yep.

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Carry on.

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Okay.

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So nine months after Pearl Harbor, on September 9th 1942, 30- 30 year old nobuo fujita assembled his seaplane on the deck of the sub and catapulted into the air so they literally just kind of shoot him off the deck so, cruising at 90 miles an hour, he headed straight for the shores of oregon in an attempt to avenge the Doolittle Raid Right.

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So the Doolittle Raid was.

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That happened on April 18th 1942.

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16 American B-25 bombers launched from aircraft carriers 650 miles east of Japan and attacked the Japanese mainland, and it was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James H Doolittle Yep.

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So Nobudo fujita was going straight to oregon to avenge the doolittle raid did you find out any reason why they picked oregon?

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and yes, I said oregon yes oh good but I will continue.

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So there was a lot going on in Oregon at this time, 1942.

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The state was heavily involved in the war effort and there were significant changes to the economy and society.

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So Oregon did a ton of shipbuilding.

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So Portland Oregon became a major shipping hub during the war.

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So their shipyards, including the Kaiser Shipyards and the Willamette Iron and Steel Company, and they expanded their operations to meet the urgent need for vessels.

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So they had different types of ships.

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One was called Liberty Ships.

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They were large standardized cargo ships used to transport troops and supplies.

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They were large standardized cargo ships used to transport troops and supplies.

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There was victory ships, faster, more efficient version of the Liberty ship.

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Why wouldn't you just make them all faster then?

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I mean, you would think right, yeah, okay.

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And then there was a T2SEA2 tanker.

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That's a mouthful, yeah.

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They were oil tankers used to transport fuel to Allied forces.

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Oh sure.

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Okay.

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So the shipbuilding industry provided employment for thousands of Oregonians, and Oregon's manufacturing capabilities also contribute to the war effort.

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They produced aircraft parts, propellers, engines to the war effort.

00:19:05.864 --> 00:19:17.446
They produced aircraft parts, propellers, engines, um, and then they even um had timber resources there, so lumber was used to construct the strip construct the ships okay aircraft and military bases, and then agricultural sure stuff as well.

00:19:17.446 --> 00:19:21.633
Yeah, right, okay, so I'm gonna quote fujita himself.

00:19:21.633 --> 00:19:28.148
Oh yes, so this was taken from a us naval institute website okay so quote.

00:19:28.288 --> 00:19:34.044
It was then that my idea occurred to me submarine aircraft were armed with bombs.

00:19:34.044 --> 00:19:42.615
A plane could search far ahead of a submarine and attack shipping, or it could combine a joint attacks with the mothership.

00:19:42.615 --> 00:19:46.689
So nope, I'm going to continue.

00:19:46.689 --> 00:19:50.688
I thought the end quote was there, but it's not.

00:19:50.688 --> 00:19:54.487
Oh, okay, Lieutenant Tsukidu.

00:19:54.847 --> 00:19:55.609
Tsukidu.

00:19:56.380 --> 00:20:13.548
The executive officer became very excited about the idea and we discussed how Japanese submarines could attack, say, panama Canal and aircraft factories or naval bases around San Diego, san Francisco and Seattle all at the same time.

00:20:13.548 --> 00:20:21.314
More submarine-borne planes could help cut supply lines and bomb any ships that came to the rescue of the enemy.

00:20:21.314 --> 00:20:28.416
You ought to put your ideas in writing, fujita, he said, and forward them to high command, end quote.

00:20:28.438 --> 00:20:38.547
There you go so it was Fujita's idea to have ships which nope have planes on these submarines.

00:20:38.547 --> 00:20:40.133
That's pretty impressive, yeah, and they carried it out.

00:20:40.192 --> 00:20:40.595
They did Also.

00:20:40.595 --> 00:20:51.830
If you do good work, you're gonna get more responsibility, which is why he was asked to bomb oregon oh sure he's like hey, this is your idea, you're gonna do it, you're gonna do it so nobuo was.

00:20:51.830 --> 00:20:57.951
Nobuo was actually disappointed that oregon was chosen right, can we go somewhere tropical?

00:20:57.951 --> 00:21:01.117
He was hoping for a larger port city in california.

00:21:01.218 --> 00:21:12.443
Sure makes sense yeah, he wanted more glory basically, but a fellow officer named unknown, um, said quote the northwestern united states is full of forests.

00:21:12.443 --> 00:21:18.061
Once a blaze gets started in the deep woods, it is very difficult to stop.

00:21:18.061 --> 00:21:21.476
Sure, sometimes whole towns are destroyed.

00:21:21.476 --> 00:21:26.648
If we were to bomb some of these forests, it would put the enemy in too much trouble.

00:21:26.648 --> 00:21:30.022
It might even cause large-scale panic.

00:21:30.022 --> 00:21:36.625
Once residents knew japan could reach out and bomb their factories and homes from 5 000 miles away.

00:21:36.625 --> 00:21:37.788
End quote.

00:21:37.788 --> 00:21:41.258
Okay, that was also from the us naval institute website gotcha.

00:21:41.258 --> 00:21:45.047
So, with his flight suit on, he clipped a piece of.

00:21:45.326 --> 00:22:03.914
He clipped a piece of his hair and his finger clippings okay fingernail clippings, that's more accurate I knew what you meant, but thank you for clarifying and then he put those things in a really small tin box and if he weren't to return, that box would be given to his wife for burial.

00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:06.384
Oh well, so at least that's something.

00:22:06.384 --> 00:22:08.510
Yeah, exactly, Okay, exactly.

00:22:08.892 --> 00:22:09.071
Sure.

00:22:09.071 --> 00:22:14.490
So Nobuo unfolded his plane and loaded it with incendiary bombs.

00:22:14.931 --> 00:22:16.114
Yep Makes sense.

00:22:16.180 --> 00:22:27.734
So these bombs contained a mixture of magnesium and thermite and were designed to create intense heat and molten metal, which would penetrate structures and start fires.

00:22:27.976 --> 00:22:32.307
Sure, no, I mean, that's pretty much what they were going for Burn down the Pacific Northwest, yeah.

00:22:32.660 --> 00:22:35.628
So his target was the forest surrounding Mount Emily.

00:22:35.628 --> 00:22:39.068
Okay, it's about 6,000 feet above sea level.

00:22:39.461 --> 00:22:42.200
Was Mount Emily named after someone named emily?

00:22:43.061 --> 00:22:44.144
I didn't look that part up.

00:22:44.144 --> 00:23:04.345
That was not part of my research carry on but it was just west of the coastal town of brookings and it's literally just over the california border oh, so it's pretty far south and it is, yeah, it's very yeah, it's in the very like t in the very tippy bottom corner, tippy bottom corner.

00:23:04.365 --> 00:23:05.327
The bottom left corner.

00:23:05.327 --> 00:23:08.428
The one, you know, the tippy bottom.

00:23:08.428 --> 00:23:15.384
Maybe that's the episode title Tippy bottom, tippy bottom corner.

00:23:15.384 --> 00:23:16.885
Anyways, sorry, carry on.

00:23:17.221 --> 00:23:21.692
So he dropped two bombs within five or six miles of each other.

00:23:21.692 --> 00:23:28.833
Both exploded and nobuo raced back to the sup, avoiding two merchant ships off the coast.

00:23:28.833 --> 00:23:55.626
Oh so it just so happened that the night before it had rained in oregon and the bombs were essentially useless because yeah, because it was wet damp can't ignite that one of them did start a small fire, but several men of the us forest service in outlook towers say they saw the smoke and were able to extinguish it.

00:23:55.926 --> 00:24:09.140
Wow that did not go as planned for them approximately 60 pounds of fragments, including the nose of the bomb, were found at the site, and they were turned over to the us army wow okay.

00:24:10.343 --> 00:24:16.036
So nobuo went back to the i-25 and they were spotted by the army air force.

00:24:16.036 --> 00:24:22.583
So the sub dove underwater to be undetected and they continued to lay on the ocean floor for 20 days.

00:24:22.583 --> 00:24:25.607
Yeah, that sucks.

00:24:25.607 --> 00:24:35.471
When they resurfaced on september 29th, naboo again took off for the oregon coast with two more incendiary bombs.

00:24:35.471 --> 00:24:37.000
So they checked the weather first.

00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:37.422
I don't know.

00:24:37.422 --> 00:24:39.124
I don't know if they knew why, or even if they if the weather first.

00:24:39.124 --> 00:24:39.545
I don't know.

00:24:39.545 --> 00:24:45.714
I don't know if they knew why, or even if the fire did go up in blaze.

00:24:45.755 --> 00:24:47.243
You know, they probably had no idea.

00:24:47.304 --> 00:24:47.865
It's possible.

00:24:48.007 --> 00:24:48.869
Why did this not work?

00:24:49.521 --> 00:24:51.269
Yeah, they're under the ocean at this point.

00:24:51.400 --> 00:24:54.390
Well, yeah, and so, wow, that's funny though, yeah.

00:24:55.060 --> 00:25:00.021
So these two other incendiary bombs, the US didn't even notice them, they did nothing.

00:25:00.041 --> 00:25:00.722
These two other incendiary bombs.

00:25:00.722 --> 00:25:01.525
The US didn't even notice them.

00:25:01.565 --> 00:25:02.025
They did nothing Right.

00:25:02.025 --> 00:25:05.932
So on their way home to Japan the submarine torpedoed and sank the US.

00:25:05.932 --> 00:25:13.869
Excuse me, sank the SS Camden Okay and SS Larry Doheny, which were both tankers.

00:25:13.869 --> 00:25:14.432
Gotcha.

00:25:14.432 --> 00:25:26.065
The I-25 also sank the Soviet submarine L-16, which was in transit between dutch arbor alaska and san francisco um making.

00:25:26.244 --> 00:25:35.085
It was actually mistaken for a american submarine oh sure as japan and the ussr were not in the war like against each other at this time, right.

00:25:35.085 --> 00:25:42.635
So the ussr did see this as a threat, but it wasn't until 1945 that the two fought in the war.

00:25:42.635 --> 00:25:53.335
So the two attacks on Oregon in September 1942 were the only enemy aircraft bombings of the contiguous United States, correct?

00:25:53.335 --> 00:26:03.205
Yeah, so they did bomb the Aleutian Islands, I think, which is like that little tale of Alaska, right, but it was of Alaska, right, but it was also islands.

00:26:04.108 --> 00:26:09.686
Yes, we don't consider that part of the states, plus, obviously, pearl Harbor, of course.

00:26:09.686 --> 00:26:10.209
Exactly.

00:26:11.881 --> 00:26:19.742
So Nobuo continued as a pilot, primarily serving in reconnaissance duties, and he was promoted for his skills.

00:26:19.742 --> 00:26:29.711
He transferred to a Naval air core and he taught seaplane um training and later joined a main mainland air defense unit.

00:26:29.711 --> 00:26:34.211
He also offered to join the kamikaze special attack force.

00:26:34.211 --> 00:26:34.811
Why?

00:26:36.221 --> 00:26:37.662
You know what they do, right, so uh.

00:26:40.746 --> 00:26:43.434
He was preparing to take part in an attack.

00:26:43.434 --> 00:26:54.719
He was training with Kamikaze people, but due to poor visibility at sea and the difficulty with the inexperienced pilot, he actually did not perform any missions.

00:26:55.179 --> 00:26:55.819
Well, clearly.

00:26:56.840 --> 00:27:15.558
Yeah, so during the end of the war, in late August 1943, off the coast of vanitu, which is near australia, the crew of the uss patterson detected sonar from a large japanese submarine lurking nearby.

00:27:15.558 --> 00:27:42.349
Okay, okay wait, so they saw jaws the destroyer launched an attack, unleashing a barrage of depth charges that illuminated the dark waters beneath them they just see a silhouette of a submarine that would be so cool I mean that's like a, like a cartoon or something.

00:27:43.111 --> 00:28:00.432
But in case you don't know, because I didn't, a depth charge is an underwater explosive device used to attack submarines, correct, so it's typically dropped from a shift or aircraft and is designed to detonate at a specific depth beneath the surface of the water, hence the name depth charge.

00:28:00.432 --> 00:28:06.979
So when a depth charge explodes, it creates a shockwave that can damage or destroy a submarine.

00:28:06.979 --> 00:28:12.617
Depth charges were widely used during World War II to combat the submarine threat.

00:28:13.325 --> 00:28:16.013
Yeah, because they were pretty prevalent in World War II.

00:28:16.786 --> 00:28:21.457
So a massive underwater explosion signaled the USS Patterson's success.

00:28:21.457 --> 00:28:26.869
The I-25, once a formidable threat, was never heard from again.

00:28:27.517 --> 00:28:28.826
Sunk to the bottom of the ocean?

00:28:28.826 --> 00:28:29.589
Sure did.

00:28:29.589 --> 00:28:30.232
And where was this?

00:28:30.232 --> 00:28:30.906
Again, sorry.

00:28:31.087 --> 00:28:32.773
This was off of Australia.

00:28:32.773 --> 00:28:36.634
Okay, so fast forward 20 years, oh dear.

00:28:41.287 --> 00:28:44.393
I think I just had a stroke 1962.

00:28:44.413 --> 00:28:47.478
1962.

00:28:47.478 --> 00:28:51.836
Okay, oregon was about to have their annual Azalea Festival.

00:28:51.836 --> 00:28:54.133
Who doesn't have an Azalea Festival these days?

00:28:54.133 --> 00:29:02.857
Starting in 1939, each Memorial Day quote this event includes a Friday night dance party in Azalea Park.

00:29:03.318 --> 00:29:03.779
Oh, there you go.

00:29:04.025 --> 00:29:08.316
Saturday morning Azalea Festival parade in downtown Brookings.

00:29:08.836 --> 00:29:09.096
Nice.

00:29:09.605 --> 00:29:14.114
Street, market fair and Azalea Park concerts.

00:29:14.114 --> 00:29:18.075
Enjoy Memorial Day weekend on the coast and come join the fun.

00:29:18.075 --> 00:29:18.717
End quote.

00:29:19.246 --> 00:29:19.586
Is that?

00:29:19.586 --> 00:29:20.830
Did you get that from?

00:29:20.830 --> 00:29:22.214
Like an actual flyer, from back in the?

00:29:22.234 --> 00:29:22.355
day.

00:29:22.355 --> 00:29:23.770
It was on their website, nice.

00:29:23.770 --> 00:29:33.096
I mean, it sounds like a flyer you would see up on the on a bill or not a billboard, but like a store or something.

00:29:33.115 --> 00:29:35.525
Yeah, it was on their website, that's awesome because they still do the azalea festival.

00:29:35.684 --> 00:29:45.135
That's, that's fantastic so, um, as president of the local junior chamber of commerce of brookings, bill mcchesney, okay, and the rest of the jcs.

00:29:45.135 --> 00:29:47.943
He came up, they came up with a plan.

00:29:47.943 --> 00:30:01.951
Over a couple of beers, of course, let's invite nobuo fujita to the festival as a sign of goodwill just leave your incendiaries at home exactly they're like yeah, that's a great idea.

00:30:01.951 --> 00:30:03.272
Let's go tell the world.

00:30:04.213 --> 00:30:04.493
Huh.

00:30:05.015 --> 00:30:10.461
Well, the Brookings residents were a little divided over Fujita's visit.

00:30:11.907 --> 00:30:13.432
Can you blame some of the people though?

00:30:13.512 --> 00:30:20.955
No, be like okay, no, that is such a good gesture, you know, let's, it's peace ties, yeah.

00:30:20.955 --> 00:30:26.086
And then the other was like dude, you like bombed our forests, you tried to burn our shit down.

00:30:26.086 --> 00:30:35.613
So a local op-ed was printed, yeah, and it criticized fujita's wartime actions, and the editorial garnered significant support.

00:30:35.613 --> 00:30:43.030
Sure, so many residents, especially veterans who fought in the pacific theater, expressed strong opposition.

00:30:43.030 --> 00:30:48.180
The controversy escalated to heated discussions within the community.

00:30:48.180 --> 00:30:52.213
Bill McChesney even got a death threat.

00:30:52.554 --> 00:30:53.056
Oh Jesus.

00:30:53.625 --> 00:30:55.752
Quote I got a death threat in the middle of the night.

00:30:55.752 --> 00:31:02.637
He remembers this guy said if you walk with that man down the street, we're going to have rifles pointed at you and your family.

00:31:02.637 --> 00:31:03.199
End quote.

00:31:03.199 --> 00:31:08.991
And when I say man, man, that was my own word that I entered because they used a derogatory term.

00:31:08.991 --> 00:31:16.270
Oh sure so the local gcs convened an emergency meeting at the mcchesney's home.

00:31:16.270 --> 00:31:25.249
These young entrepreneurs, all under 35, all right, unanimously decided that they'd invite nobuo Fujita back to Oregon.

00:31:25.749 --> 00:31:27.049
So they said fuck it, let's do it, Yep.

00:31:27.851 --> 00:31:37.740
Supposedly the invitation actually earned the respect of then-president JFK, who congratulated the town for its efforts and promote international friendship.

00:31:37.740 --> 00:31:46.945
Nice, yeah, I've seen this stated in a couple of my sources, but there was no other specifics other than jfk congratulated them, sure.

00:31:46.945 --> 00:32:00.106
So the trip was formally arranged after the japanese government assured fujita that he would not be arrested or tried as a criminal I mean, you can't blame him for wondering, because it's like holy shit, I bombed them.

00:32:00.989 --> 00:32:10.685
What's gonna my at war criminal now exactly, yeah, so nobuo, his wife and their son stayed at the McChesney's home for the first few days in Brookings.

00:32:10.685 --> 00:32:11.647
Oh wow, mm-hmm.

00:32:11.647 --> 00:32:20.048
Years after his 1962 trip Fujita revealed that he didn't know what would happen during his visit in Brookings.

00:32:20.048 --> 00:32:25.688
Part of him feared that he would be pelted with rotten eggs or even tried for war crimes.

00:32:25.688 --> 00:32:34.213
If so, he would have used his centuries-old family katana for seppuku or ritual suicide.

00:32:34.233 --> 00:32:41.414
yeah kind of did you ever see the um, what's it called the the wolverine, one of the hugh jackman movies.

00:32:41.414 --> 00:32:50.665
They show him because he got captured during world war ii over in nagasaki or whatever, and they show some of the guys like doing that oh no, I haven't seen that.

00:32:51.778 --> 00:32:59.279
It's pretty decent, I enjoy it so this sword went with him literally on each of his flight missions he took it with him everywhere.

00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:06.578
I mean, you can't do it if you don't have it and it was passed down from his generations over like 400 years.

00:33:06.578 --> 00:33:07.880
Did he give it to his kid.

00:33:07.880 --> 00:33:10.083
Well, he brought it to Brookings, just in case.

00:33:10.323 --> 00:33:13.567
In case I need to kill myself today.

00:33:14.008 --> 00:33:20.574
But instead of passing it on to his son, he presented his family most prized possession to the city of Brookings.

00:33:20.574 --> 00:33:23.403
Oh wow, when he was met with kindness, sincerity and respect.

00:33:23.584 --> 00:33:24.205
That's pretty cool.

00:33:26.397 --> 00:33:33.121
So in a nationalinterestorg article, nobuo said, quote this is the finest way of closing the story.

00:33:33.121 --> 00:33:44.247
He said as he presented the sword to Mayor C Fell Campbell it is the samurai tradition to pledge peace and friendship by presenting a sword to a former enemy.

00:33:44.247 --> 00:33:44.748
End quote.

00:33:44.768 --> 00:33:47.740
Okay, wow, that's pretty big of them to do that.

00:33:47.740 --> 00:33:49.840
Do they still have it on display there?

00:33:49.840 --> 00:33:50.884
Yes, sweet.

00:33:51.655 --> 00:33:55.049
The Fujitas were the center of attention during their visit.

00:33:55.049 --> 00:33:58.383
Obviously, right Nobuo was honored with a key to the city.

00:33:58.383 --> 00:34:03.585
He piloted a plane over the bomb site and even attempted to play the bagpipes in a parade.

00:34:04.205 --> 00:34:07.758
Why, I don't know that seems weird, but I like it.

00:34:07.758 --> 00:34:09.380
Bagpipes are awesome.

00:34:09.960 --> 00:34:12.985
I'm in a marching band and I've seen a bull here.

00:34:12.985 --> 00:34:15.547
Try my trombone, Go ahead, Give it a try.

00:34:15.949 --> 00:34:18.576
Have you played the trumpet before here?

00:34:18.615 --> 00:34:19.418
you are, sir.

00:34:19.418 --> 00:34:21.846
So there were still some underlying tensions.

00:34:22.215 --> 00:34:22.295
Sure.

00:34:22.315 --> 00:34:33.619
Several individuals, including the Forest Service employee who first discovered the bomb site, were actually detained as a precautionary measure to prevent any potential conflicts.

00:34:33.619 --> 00:34:35.123
Oh, that's probably smart.

00:34:35.123 --> 00:34:35.565
Yeah, wow.

00:34:35.565 --> 00:34:40.137
So over the next three decades he visited the town several times.

00:34:40.137 --> 00:34:41.380

Leave Your Incendiaries At Home: Nobuo Fujita

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