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From: tw8023@pyuxii.UUCP (T Wheeler)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Orphaned Response
Message-ID: <226@pyuxii.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 6-Sep-85 09:41:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: pyuxii.226
Posted: Fri Sep  6 09:41:06 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 7-Sep-85 07:26:16 EDT
References: <1392@uwmacc.UUCP> <7800411@inmet.UUCP>, <1178@ihlpg.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J.
Lines: 80

Bill T., I hate to be the one to bring you the bad news, BUT,
California and Oregon were both attacked by the Japanese during
the beginning of WWII.  Granted, the attacks were miniscule in
comparison to everything else that happened, but the Japanese
Navy did carry out minor harrasement raids along the coast.
The ones that come to mind most clearly were the dropping of
small hand-held anti-personnel bombs on the town square of
one Oregon town. (Not sure which town so I will not stick foot
in mouth and give wrong one.)  Thirty years after the incident,
the town held a rememberence and managed to locate the Japanese
Naval flier who did the bomb dropping.  He was invited to take
part in the festivities.  Fortunatly, noone was injured in the
raid, so folks got along fine during the festivities.

The second incident which comes to mind was extremely interesting
in that it was more like the movie "1941".  A Japanese sub
managed to navigate the Columbia river all the way to Astoria
where, on a quiet Sunday morning, a few months into the war,
it surfaced just off the Navy pier, loaded its deck gun, and
proceeded to try to hit the gas storage tanks on a hill just above
the Navy installation.  Sailors aboard a U S destroyer docked at
the pier just stood and watched for the first two rounds as they
thought it was one of their own just practicing.  By the time
the Japanese fired their third round, it had become apparent
as to what was going on and a general alarm was sounded.  Alas,
they were too late.  After the third shot (all three were misses)
the sub buttoned up, turned around, and dove, never to be seen
again up the Columbia.  Needless to say that the mouth of the
Columbia was well guarded after that incident.

As far as California is concerned, there was some shelling from
a submarine along the Santa Barbara area.  In regards to the
airplane which bombed the Oregon town, it was very small and
was launched from a submarine.  There was some type of watertight
housing on the deck of the sub.  The thing was bolted together
and launched.  I personaly saw this aircraft as it flew over my
town at least ten or twelve times.  The pilot never dropped
anything in our area however.  The plane would come in from the
sea about dusk and circle over Aberdeen and Hoquiam, Washington
for about 15 minutes, then return to the sub.  Frantic calls
to the nearest Army Air Corps base near Tacoma would bring
down a flight of rickety training planes equipped with very
rudimentery weapons to look for the sub.  The problem was
was that it took over an hour to get the Army down our way
to look for the sub.  By the time they got there, the pilot
was sitting in the sub's wardroom sipping tea and telling
his friends about how everyone was running to and fro on
the ground when he passed over them.

Japanese subs roamed up and down the west coast for most of
1942, sinking quite a few ships.  A dozen or so were torpedoed
off the Washington coast, but they were mostly part of what
we
called the Scandanavian Navy.  These were small coastal steamers
used to move lumber up and down the coast and usually captained
by Norwegian or Swedish captains.  Once the Japenese found out
that putting a hole in one of these steamers did nothing more
than dump a lot of wood into the water, they stopped trying
to sink them.  Mainly because, even with a hole in them, many
would make it to port anyway.

The scarriest thing the Japanese did was to send ballons over
the Pacific ladened with both anti-personnel mines and
incindiary devices.  About a dozen people were injured when
they found these things.  They are still being found out in
the forests of western Washington, Oregon, and B.C..

So, Bill, its not quite true that the Japanese never attacked
the mainland.  As for the Aleutians, there were people on those
islands.  There were fishing villages that were only partially
inhabited (off-season).  The Japanese put those people on their
fishing boats and sent them back to the mainland.  This was how
we found out about the "invasion".  It was quite awhile before
we mounted a counter attack to find that the Japanese had
skedaddled just hours before we came ashore.  That is the
main force had been taken off the islands.

Just setting the record straight.
T. C. Wheeler