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Right after the invasion of Pearl Harbor, the newspapers often had headlines like this such as in San Francisco and Los Angelos. Reports were confirmed by the military but there was never any proof of the enemy planes. After the war, Japan confirmed that it never flew over the coast of California. If you look at the history books and newspapers from that time frame you would see that Japan was very busy in the China Sea with major offensives. Wikipedia has an interesting write-up about this called Battle of Los Angeles where they say it might have been weather balloons.
Oh, there was magic and dreams in this book! The hours I’d spend putting together my wish list for Christmas and birthday. With the ease of online shopping I don’t there there is as good a collection put together as the Sears catalog was! I remember this cover like it was yesterfday!
Some interesting interviews of the 20th century are now streaming on various online services. Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett, and Merv Griffin all interviewed the headliners of our time.
One such episode was on August 26, 1965 The Merv Griffin Show had two interesting figures of World War II.
Mitsuo Fuchida was the commander of the Japanese attack force during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He explained to Merv and the audience that there were no plans to occupy Pearl Harbor or the mainland USA, just diminish the naval capacity by destroying the ships docked there.
Frederick Ayer Jr was also a guest on the show. Ayer in 1941 was a young FBI agent who was following the traffic of the rumblings of war with Japan. General George Patton was Ayer’s uncle.
The thing I found most fascinating about the interview was how Ayer and Merv discussed how on the night of the invasion how there was a huge traffic jam in San Francisco going to the beach to watch the Japanese arrival!
Captain Fuchida agreed that dropping nuclear weapons saved lives. After the Japanese surrender during General MacArthur’s occupation, Fuchida met a street minister and turned his life over to Jesus Christ. Fuchida spent the rest of his life as a minister and as an author writing about the war. Fuchida died in 1976.
I did not link this interview because it will change to and from various streaming services. This was season 2 episode 79.
