McCash, William

On September 9, 1942, a site near Brookings, Curry County, Oregon was bombed by a Japanese floatplane piloted by Nobuo Fujita. Fujita was a Warrant Flying Officer of the Imperial Japanese Navy. His floatplane was launched from an I-25 submarine and carried incendiary bombs. Its mission was to start massive forest fires throughout the Pacific Northwest; however, the attack was a failure due to heavy rains the previous night. Two decades after the attack, in 1962, Fujita was invited back to Brookings as a sign of friendship. At that time he gave the town his family’s 400-year old samurai sword. Additionally, he was granted honorary citizenship in Brookings shortly before his death in 1997.

From the guide to the William McCash Research Collection Relating to his book, Bombs Over Brookings, (2005), 1942-2007, (Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries)