General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Re: Operation "Fugo"
Posted by:
Yuri IL'IN
()
Date: October 29, 2001 02:52AM
<HTML>Hello
Some years back on Russian forum we discussed legal problems of use ballon in the military purposes. One American which reads this Russian forum has sent me a material about tragedy
This is my translation of his message in English
It take place here in Oregon. Baloon has fallen in wood, it have found local children, at to attempt by them it "to study", the bomb has blown up. Children were lost. Now on place of explosion there is a monument. It were the unique victims in itself America during the Second World War.
Attached file
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vot polnyj tekst istorii (nichego, chto po-anglijski?):
The Oregon Tradegy
On May 5, 1945, the Reverend Archie Mitchell, his pregnant wife, and five
children were picicking on Gearhart Mountain, near Bly, Oregon. One of
the children, Dick Patzke, found a shiny object. Before the Reverend could
stop him, what turned out to be a balloon bomb exploded. Shrapnel sheared
off tree trunks and killed the Reverend's wife and all five children.
These were to be the only fatalities on the continental US during
World War II.
42 years later, Professor Yuzuru John Takeshita of the University of
Michigan, served as an intermediary on behalf of the surviving relatives
and the Japanese women who made these bombs. These women, who were mere
teenagers at the time, were shocked and dismayed to learn what had
happened. They sent letters of apologies and condolences, along with one
thousand paper cranes they folded themselves.
Here is the cover letter Prof. Takeshita sent to the families:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 1987
These letters were written by the women who folded the thousand paper
cranes. They are a former teacher and her former students at the
Yamaguchi Girls High School in Western Japan. With the teacher as their
supervisor, they were taken out of the classroom and sent to a war plant
to build the balloon bombs that were sent across the Pacific towards the
last days of World War II. As each of the letters shows, these women
regret their role in that war and especially are sorry that they were
responsible, albeit indirectly, for the death of the six innocent
persons, five of whom they learned most painfully were children. By the
same token, their commitment to peace is very deep. The names of these
women in order of the letters presented here are:
Yoshiko Hisaga, former teacher
Aiko Chisaka
Ritsuko Kawano
Katsuko Maeda
Toshiko Mizobe
Etsuko Shibata
Tetsuko Tanaka
I have the honor of delivering these letters along with the thousand
cranes to the families and friends of the victims in Oregon. Paper
cranes are typically sent as prayers, and the folding of one thousand
such cranes represents the earnestness of those offering the prayer.
Yuzuru J. Takeshita
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are the letters of condolences:
In Japan we are now heading into the hot summer season. And once again
we approach the anniversary of the defeat in World War II. Forty-two
years ago I was 16 and fully engaged in building balloon bombs as part of
the all-out war effort. When I learned that one of those bombs took away
the precious lives of six persons, I was deeply saddened, fully aware
that saying "sorry" won't bring them back. I pray for them from the
hills of far-away Japan, with a fervent wish for peace around the world.
--Katsuko Maeda
Towards the end of the War in the Pacific (August 1944-February 1945), we
were taken out of the classroom under the Student Mobilization Act and
sent to a war plant to build balloon bombs. After defeat, we were told
that only some of the balloons reached the United States and were useless
as weapons having caused but a few forest fires. Then, 40 years after
the war we learned for the first time about what is known as "The Oregon
Tragedy," involving the loss of six lives. We who at the time were
school girls only 16 years of age were nevertheless full participants in
the war, bringing pain and hardship to others. Such a realization truly
sent a chill down my spine. My heart pains to learn that the six victims
were Sunday school children on what was meant to be a joyful picnic with
a newly-wed minister's wife. These one thousand cranes were folded one
by one by some of us who made the balloon bombs, seeking forgiveness and
with a prayer for peace and a vow that the error of the past shall never
again be repeated. We pray from afar in Japan that the six victims rest
eternally in peace.
--Tetsuko Tanaka
We participated in the building of weapons used to kill people without
understanding much beyond the knowledge that America was our adversary
in a war. To think that the weapon we made took your lives as you were
out on a picnic! We were overwhelmed with deep sorrow and with the
passage of time troubled by a sense of guilt. We intend to continue
talking about how wretched war is, to make sure there is never again a
war and your sacrifice is not in vain. Do all of you rest eternally in
peace.
--Aiko Chisaka
Four years agao when we first learned that one of the balloon bombs
exploded in Oregon and people were killed, we were deeply troubled. And
then when we learned further through Professor Takeshita's recent letter
that five of the six victims were children only eleven to thirteen years
of age, we were shocked more than ever before and overcome by a deep
sense of sorrow. How the parents of these children must have grieved at
their losses! Kindly accept my condolence which I send to you from the
bottom of my heart, though belatedly. It was to serve our country that
we had worked to the limits of our physical abilities, and then to learn
what happened as a result! We are made to realize once again how in a
war we are all---victors and vanquished, young and old, men and women
alike---both victims and directly or indirectly perpetrators upon others
of pain and hardship. We folded these cranes with prayers for the
deceased that they rest in peace and that we can live in a world without
war. I vow to continue with efforts to help build such a world with what
little ability I have as long as I live.
--Toshiko Mizobe
We respectfully offer before you, the six who lost their dear lives 42
years ago as a result of the balloon bomb we Japanese made, thousand
paper cranes we folded as a token of our belated expression of penitence
and with our wholehearted prayer for your souls and for world peace. To
the famlies of the victims, painfully aware that your lost ones can never
return, we are feeling ever more strongly now the depth of our crime and
seek most sincerely that you forgive us for what we fully realize is
unforgiveable. I vow before God that hereon I shall, as long as I live,
dedicate myself to doing everything in my power for peace, making certain
that we never again repeat the terrible error of the past.
--Yoshiko Hisaga
We send the cranes we folded one by one with a prayer for world peace
entrusted in each to offer in our place our prayer to you who fell victim
to the balloon bomb we made. Do rest eternally in peace.
--Etsuko Shibata
We learned concretely as to what happened with the balloon bombs only
recently. The more we learned, the more we came face to face with the
terrible past that involved the regretful loss of innocent lives. If the
six persons who are resting in the hills of Oregon were alive today, they
should be close to our age. They would be fine busbands and beautiful
wives, with children and being a source of strength to their country.
How regretful and painful to think of what might have been had they
lived! I vow that I shall join thos who, with courage, fight for peace,
by talking to as many persons as possible about the futility of war and
by insisting more than ever on the sanctity of human lives. I pray
wholeheartedly that the souls of the six victims rest eternally in peace.
--Ritsuko Kawano
The blast occured on property owned by Weyerhaeuser Timber Co. On August
20, 1950, the company commerated the six deaths near Bly by dedicating a
bronze plaque.
When I went to Newport, Oregon's Ripley's Believe it or Not a year ago,
they showed a video about this event, and if they still have it, it's
well worth a look.
References
Register Guard, August 13, 1987. "Tragedy of war reconciled", Ann Japenga.
Copies of the translations of the letters the Japanese women wrote.
Questions and comments should be directed to sharpej@math.orst.edu
This document is intended to inform about a little known event in US
history and World War II.
Last updated March 27, 1997
[amaterasu.math.orst.edu];
Some years back on Russian forum we discussed legal problems of use ballon in the military purposes. One American which reads this Russian forum has sent me a material about tragedy
This is my translation of his message in English
It take place here in Oregon. Baloon has fallen in wood, it have found local children, at to attempt by them it "to study", the bomb has blown up. Children were lost. Now on place of explosion there is a monument. It were the unique victims in itself America during the Second World War.
Attached file
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vot polnyj tekst istorii (nichego, chto po-anglijski?):
The Oregon Tradegy
On May 5, 1945, the Reverend Archie Mitchell, his pregnant wife, and five
children were picicking on Gearhart Mountain, near Bly, Oregon. One of
the children, Dick Patzke, found a shiny object. Before the Reverend could
stop him, what turned out to be a balloon bomb exploded. Shrapnel sheared
off tree trunks and killed the Reverend's wife and all five children.
These were to be the only fatalities on the continental US during
World War II.
42 years later, Professor Yuzuru John Takeshita of the University of
Michigan, served as an intermediary on behalf of the surviving relatives
and the Japanese women who made these bombs. These women, who were mere
teenagers at the time, were shocked and dismayed to learn what had
happened. They sent letters of apologies and condolences, along with one
thousand paper cranes they folded themselves.
Here is the cover letter Prof. Takeshita sent to the families:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 1987
These letters were written by the women who folded the thousand paper
cranes. They are a former teacher and her former students at the
Yamaguchi Girls High School in Western Japan. With the teacher as their
supervisor, they were taken out of the classroom and sent to a war plant
to build the balloon bombs that were sent across the Pacific towards the
last days of World War II. As each of the letters shows, these women
regret their role in that war and especially are sorry that they were
responsible, albeit indirectly, for the death of the six innocent
persons, five of whom they learned most painfully were children. By the
same token, their commitment to peace is very deep. The names of these
women in order of the letters presented here are:
Yoshiko Hisaga, former teacher
Aiko Chisaka
Ritsuko Kawano
Katsuko Maeda
Toshiko Mizobe
Etsuko Shibata
Tetsuko Tanaka
I have the honor of delivering these letters along with the thousand
cranes to the families and friends of the victims in Oregon. Paper
cranes are typically sent as prayers, and the folding of one thousand
such cranes represents the earnestness of those offering the prayer.
Yuzuru J. Takeshita
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are the letters of condolences:
In Japan we are now heading into the hot summer season. And once again
we approach the anniversary of the defeat in World War II. Forty-two
years ago I was 16 and fully engaged in building balloon bombs as part of
the all-out war effort. When I learned that one of those bombs took away
the precious lives of six persons, I was deeply saddened, fully aware
that saying "sorry" won't bring them back. I pray for them from the
hills of far-away Japan, with a fervent wish for peace around the world.
--Katsuko Maeda
Towards the end of the War in the Pacific (August 1944-February 1945), we
were taken out of the classroom under the Student Mobilization Act and
sent to a war plant to build balloon bombs. After defeat, we were told
that only some of the balloons reached the United States and were useless
as weapons having caused but a few forest fires. Then, 40 years after
the war we learned for the first time about what is known as "The Oregon
Tragedy," involving the loss of six lives. We who at the time were
school girls only 16 years of age were nevertheless full participants in
the war, bringing pain and hardship to others. Such a realization truly
sent a chill down my spine. My heart pains to learn that the six victims
were Sunday school children on what was meant to be a joyful picnic with
a newly-wed minister's wife. These one thousand cranes were folded one
by one by some of us who made the balloon bombs, seeking forgiveness and
with a prayer for peace and a vow that the error of the past shall never
again be repeated. We pray from afar in Japan that the six victims rest
eternally in peace.
--Tetsuko Tanaka
We participated in the building of weapons used to kill people without
understanding much beyond the knowledge that America was our adversary
in a war. To think that the weapon we made took your lives as you were
out on a picnic! We were overwhelmed with deep sorrow and with the
passage of time troubled by a sense of guilt. We intend to continue
talking about how wretched war is, to make sure there is never again a
war and your sacrifice is not in vain. Do all of you rest eternally in
peace.
--Aiko Chisaka
Four years agao when we first learned that one of the balloon bombs
exploded in Oregon and people were killed, we were deeply troubled. And
then when we learned further through Professor Takeshita's recent letter
that five of the six victims were children only eleven to thirteen years
of age, we were shocked more than ever before and overcome by a deep
sense of sorrow. How the parents of these children must have grieved at
their losses! Kindly accept my condolence which I send to you from the
bottom of my heart, though belatedly. It was to serve our country that
we had worked to the limits of our physical abilities, and then to learn
what happened as a result! We are made to realize once again how in a
war we are all---victors and vanquished, young and old, men and women
alike---both victims and directly or indirectly perpetrators upon others
of pain and hardship. We folded these cranes with prayers for the
deceased that they rest in peace and that we can live in a world without
war. I vow to continue with efforts to help build such a world with what
little ability I have as long as I live.
--Toshiko Mizobe
We respectfully offer before you, the six who lost their dear lives 42
years ago as a result of the balloon bomb we Japanese made, thousand
paper cranes we folded as a token of our belated expression of penitence
and with our wholehearted prayer for your souls and for world peace. To
the famlies of the victims, painfully aware that your lost ones can never
return, we are feeling ever more strongly now the depth of our crime and
seek most sincerely that you forgive us for what we fully realize is
unforgiveable. I vow before God that hereon I shall, as long as I live,
dedicate myself to doing everything in my power for peace, making certain
that we never again repeat the terrible error of the past.
--Yoshiko Hisaga
We send the cranes we folded one by one with a prayer for world peace
entrusted in each to offer in our place our prayer to you who fell victim
to the balloon bomb we made. Do rest eternally in peace.
--Etsuko Shibata
We learned concretely as to what happened with the balloon bombs only
recently. The more we learned, the more we came face to face with the
terrible past that involved the regretful loss of innocent lives. If the
six persons who are resting in the hills of Oregon were alive today, they
should be close to our age. They would be fine busbands and beautiful
wives, with children and being a source of strength to their country.
How regretful and painful to think of what might have been had they
lived! I vow that I shall join thos who, with courage, fight for peace,
by talking to as many persons as possible about the futility of war and
by insisting more than ever on the sanctity of human lives. I pray
wholeheartedly that the souls of the six victims rest eternally in peace.
--Ritsuko Kawano
The blast occured on property owned by Weyerhaeuser Timber Co. On August
20, 1950, the company commerated the six deaths near Bly by dedicating a
bronze plaque.
When I went to Newport, Oregon's Ripley's Believe it or Not a year ago,
they showed a video about this event, and if they still have it, it's
well worth a look.
References
Register Guard, August 13, 1987. "Tragedy of war reconciled", Ann Japenga.
Copies of the translations of the letters the Japanese women wrote.
Questions and comments should be directed to sharpej@math.orst.edu
This document is intended to inform about a little known event in US
history and World War II.
Last updated March 27, 1997
[amaterasu.math.orst.edu];
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