Most people think the only attempt on United States soil during WWII happened on December 7 , 1941 — Pearl Harbor . Actually , the U.S. was tally again , less than a year subsequently … to much less drastic effect .
In September 1942 , a Nipponese navy pilot named Nobuo Fujita dropped incendiary bomb over a forested area near the pocket-sized town of Brookings , Oregon . By dropping incendiary equipment and bug out monumental forest fire , the Japanese believe they could divert U.S. resources and potentially cause scare .
Luckily , the design did n’t really work . Despite being recognise by afire lookout , Fujita managed to drop two turkey — butdue tolight winds , rain , and speedy firefighters , the fires were quickly contain . The pilot finally returned home , but what he had tried to do never depart him .
In 1962 , Fujita come back to Brookings to make indemnification , toting a family heirloom — a400 - yr - oldsamurai sword to give to the townsfolk . If they refused to forgive him , the archetype intended to trust harakiri ( ritual suicide ) with it . “ I was quite sure that once in Brookings I would be beaten up , people would throw eggs at me and holler insults at me , ” he lateradmitted .
To Fujita ’s surprise , the hoi polloi of Brookings welcomed him with declamatory crowd , a special response , and a key to the metropolis . He laterreturnedthe favor , foot up the bill for three Oregonian teenagers to visit Japan . He also gave $ 1000 to the local library to purchase Book for fry to instruct about his body politic , hoping that understanding each other would prevent more wars from happening . Fujita made another three visits to Oregon throughout his lifetime , even planting Tree on the fleck where he dropped the bombs .
Shortly before his death in 1997 , the town of Brookings made their onetime assailant an honorary citizen . The following year , his daughter visited the Ithiel Town to honor her father ’s last request : to have some of his ash tree buried at the bomb site .
