Brookings, Oregon Dedicates Trail to WWII Event
Many Oregonians, and the majority of the rest of the world, don’t remember that nearly 66 years ago, a Japanese fighter pilot bombed the southern Oregon Coast near Brookings during World War II. On September 9, 1942, in the early hours of the morning, Nobuo Fujita, a Japanese pilot along with a submarine crew approached the Oregon coast aimed at starting forest fires in the U.S. that would distract the U.S. and its manpower during a critical junction in the war. Luckily, Oregon’s damp weather hampered the two bombs from doing much damage other than creating a large crater that remains there today.
The city of Brookings marked the anniversary of that event as well as the progression of peace with Japan this week by opening up a trailway along the crater site, now called the Wheeler Ride Japanese Bombing Site trail. Along the trailway are signs and markers that tell the story of the event from both the Japanese and American perspective. What is interesting to note is that Fujita attended several events after the bombing in Brookings to help celebrate the peace that now exists between the countries. He planted a “peace tree” at the site in 1962 and he hosted four Brookings High School students in Japan in the 1970s. His daughter brought some of his ashes to the site after he passed away in 1997.
For more on the trailway, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/rogue-siskiyou/recreation/trails/japanese-bombing-site.shtml
