The History I Never Heard

When I was in history class, I learned that the only attack on the US by the Japanese was at Pearl Harbor.  Funny how we hear the rest of the story much later in life.  I think much of the information was still classified when I was in school, and now that it is public, we finally get to know the whole story.

At the Cape Blanco Lighthouse (and perhaps before, but neither Don nor I can recall) we were told of Japanese attacks along the coast.  Several times, the Japanese launched balloons with incendiary devices onto the Oregon Coast.  They had not banked on the rains and humidity of the area, however, and the devices did no damage.  One of those devices landed near Cape Blanco.  Bob said that not long after the war, the town of Cape Blanco invited the captain of the Japanese sub to be the Grand Marshal of their parade.  Thinking it a trap to get him to the US and try him for war crimes, he declined for several years but eventually, he agreed and returned.

When I asked Bob about the blimps and whether they had actually found any Japanese subs, he said he did not know.  Dr. Google told us that indeed the blimps discovered a number of submarines, which helped keep the US safe.

When we were at our RV park in Klamath, California, the RV park host directed us to take the road further up.  There we would find a WWII radar station, disguised as a working farm.  It is unknown whether the radar station actually alerted us to anything, but the idea was that the enemy would not detect it from the air since it looked like a farmhouse.  Oh the things we did not know.