Leave Your Incendiaries At Home: Nobuo Fujita

0:12 way there, wow, hey there did that one catch you off guard yeah, you startled me, I'm sorry. Welcome to history, buffoons. I'm kate and, and I'm Bradley. And I startle easily. That is true, yeah, yeah. Okay, so I'm rather excited because I have a beverage in front of me that I've been wanting for quite some time. Well, we've been wanting it during a podcast because we haven't been able to find it. Yes. And I happened to be at a store the other day and I'm like holy shit, there it is it like sang to me like oh, and there was like a cannon fire yeah, and like the heavens opened up right and there's a hallelujah chorus and yeah, yeah, actually that really all happened.

1:01 Yeah, and like a beacon was, you were just like zeroed in like moth to a flame I think the funny thing is it was just probably the radio and a light was over it, but yeah, but you know I, I saw it and I'm like I happen to be there, I'm like I'm gonna look, because I I don't think I did you were at a grocery store or a liquor store? no, it was a liquor store, okay and um. So I'm like I wanted to look here. I don't believe I have yet. And I'm looking in the cider area and uh, I'm like oh, they're seattle cider. Nope, nope, nope. And I'm like I looked up, I'm like fuck it, they don't have it either way. I'm like wait a minute. Holy shit, there it is yeah, so it is.

1:42 Yeah, so it's called Basil Mint. It is a hard cider from Seattle Cider Company. Yep. And alcohol content is 6.9% and it is a sipper. Yeah, it's not one you're going to pound. It's not like an Angry Orchard where you can just go to pound town on those because they're super sweet. Right, this one is not super sweet. No, go to pound town on those because they're super sweet, right? Um, this one is not super sweet, but um. So our favorite bar that we go to um in elk cart lake, wisconsin, has this and they're really good about having like obscure options for their patrons, even their their tap handles, it's not like you. Don't go there and order a mill Lite. Right, which is awesome in my opinion.

2:24 Yeah, Because fuck Miller Lite. So I saw this advertised on their little screen full of, you know, beers, and I was like basil mint. That sounds really interesting. I'm not a huge cider person. I can drink it, obviously, but I'd rather have a beer, you know, sure. So I tried this and, holy man, you're like. This is amazing. This is amazing, um. So there's actually like a little bar on the can that says whether it's more sweet or more dry, and this one is towards, um, the middle, but on the dry side, yep.

3:04 And it says it's made from fresh pressed Washington apples. Huzzah for. Washington. Yeah, so I'm super excited that you found this, and it's really really cold, which I'm loving Excited about yes. There you go. Yes, cheers, cheers, yep. There it is that, basil. It adds a really unique flavor to the apple it does, it's so good yeah, I'm really, uh, I'm actually quite fond of this one too have you ever had basil on your eggs, like hard-boiled or not hard-boiled, um fried hard eggs? I don't think so. Is it pretty? good, yeah, I actually really really like it.

3:46 I guess I never even would have thought of doing that. I don't know why I would have. Yeah well, I won't go there anyway. Um so we're drinking a washington drink, but my story actually takes place in oregon oh, not too far off not too far off. Have you ever been to oregon? I have never been to the pacific northwest oh, it's lovely I've heard many a tale, yeah, except I heard a lot of people died from dysentery out there on the oregon trail oh, I was like what do? You ever play that game when you? Oh yeah you died of dysentery. Yeah, oh man actually my mom gave me.

4:27 Well, she recommended an oregon trail book, uh, specifically as a topic for our podcast so that might be coming in our future. Yeah, that's right, um but yeah, that was yeah is that where the donner, the donner party died? No, is that no? that was up in like a mountain pass, but up that way though, right. Yeah, I want to say it was like Idaho Utah. That could be up that way, though, something like that. But yeah, they had to travel a really long distance. And they got just swamped with snow and they got stuck. Yeah, yeah. It was tough to travel back in those days. Yeah, a little bit, but you know I've been told that um I pick some sad stories you do so I was encouraged to pick something more challenge to pick up something more uplifting and I found one holy shit I know, I'm really excited.

5:22 I know, in oregon, no less. Well, yeah, I didn't know anything was happy there. I'm just kidding. Again, I don't know the state, I'm just really excited not to be depressed after we're done. Yeah, so we're going to go back to World War II, oh, dear, because nothing bad happened. Then, oh, my word, okay we, because nothing bad had bad happened then, oh, my word, okay, we're gonna set the stage here okay, please do okay, so pearl harbor was when I know do you december 7th 1941, sure was, and on december 8th the us joined the war. But what happened on december? 6th nothing, just a bad memory did the status quo remain the same on december six?

6:07 Oh my god we're just we're just quoting another podcast episode. Now let's move on so there were several underlying reasons for the pearl harbor attack right so japan tried to expand in asia, trying to control resources and territory, and that that policy led to conflict with the united states, which was interested in maintaining, like, open trade in the region. Sure, the united states had imposed economic sanctions on japan in response to its aggression in asia. Okay, so these sanctions were hurting the japanese economy and japan saw them as a threat sure so japan had been building up its military in preparation for war.

6:54 So oh, lovely the attack on pearl harbor was like a preemptive strike, right to disable the us public fleet and give japan like an advantage. Yeah, correct, yeah. So at this time, the us public fleet and give japan like an advantage? Yeah, correct, yeah. So at this time the us economy was still actually recovering from the great depression. Yep, so the the country entered the war in 1991. Unemployment rates were pretty high 1991 1941? Why do I keep misspeaking it's numbers? that's why I don't do numbers very well. You don't math very good I really don't. I don't year either. So um, unemployment rates were high in 1941, there it is, and industries were struggling.

7:37 However, the war effort provided a significant boost yeah, the the war pretty much helped us get out of it. Yes, yes, so the great depression left millions of americans jobless and the war did provide opportunity to put people back to work. The government um the government spending on military equipment supplies and services stimulated growth and industry shifted from producing consumer goods to producing war materials, and that led in a surge of manufacturing activity that's why, like even have you ever seen one of the I don't know what you call it a silver penny from back in the war times, because they needed all the copper for, for military things bullets and guns and whatever.

8:25 I didn't know that. I have a couple of them. They're actually at my parents' I have a little not a huge coin collection from back in the day, but I have a few of those. They're actually kind of cool because they're like silver. Yeah. But it was all during the war because they needed the copper. That's awesome, yeah. So, to ensure fair distribution of resources, the government implemented rationing and price controls, and this helped prevent inflation as well. Okay, so yes, in essence, the war essentially got America out of the Great Depression Right. So the year is 1942, and it was a pivotal year in the Pacific theater of World War II. The US and Japan fought a series of major battles, with significant implications, of course, for war.

9:08 So the most notable battle is battle of the coral sea, which happened early may of 1942. Okay, and this was the first naval battle in history where the opposing forces did not exchange a single shot. Oh, wow both sides relied on aircraft carriers to launch airstrikes against each other oh okay, the battle was a tactical draw, but it prevented the japanese from capturing port mosby, which is a strategic location in new guinea okay um. There was also the battle of midway, which happened in early june of 1942 that's a very popular so movies and shit for about that one yeah, I don't think I have seen the midway.

9:53 I haven't seen there was like a newer one that came out. What in the last, I think, two, three, four years, whatever, yeah, maybe, yeah. But I know, like my dad again huge, especially the naval side, because he was in the Navy. Yeah, he loved reading about the Battle of Midway and everything and such. Did he listen to Juno? about the Juno my dad isn't what you call very technical savvy Sure, so if we could put it in book form maybe. I mean, I guess we could. We could be authors. I could print out the transcript. Yes, you could, so yeah. So the Battle of Midway was a victory for the United States. The Japanese planned to capture Midway Island, which was a US base in the Central Pacific.

10:36 However, the Navy intercepted Japanese radio transmissions, allowing them to set a trap Okay, transmissions allowing them to set a trap? Okay. The us launched a surprise air attack on the japanese fleet, sinking four aircraft carriers and crippling the japanese naval air power in the pacific. Wow, and then you might recall the battle of guadalupe canal yeah aka the first episode that we have done on history. Buffoons that is called. You know about the juno do you know about? This one lasted from august 7th 42 to february 9th 43 oh wow so, just to recap, it was um a bloody campaign for control of guadalcanal, which is in the solomon islands.

11:18 Okay, the us marines landed on the island in august 42, but faced fierce resistance from Japanese forces. The battle lasted for several months, with both sides suffering heavy casualties. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's okay, you'll get there. I will. So the US eventually succeeded in driving the Japanese from Guadalcanal. And then there was the Battle of the eastern solomons, which was august, mid-august 1942. Okay, and that was another naval battle of the solomon islands. Gotcha, the japanese attempted to to reinforce their troops on guadalcanal, but were intercepted by the navy.

11:58 The battle resulted in a tactical victory for the japanese, but they suffered significant losses in aircraft carriers. Oh, wow, okay, so the scene is set. Okay, so depressing so far War. Just wait, I promise. Okay, enter Nobuo Fujita. Fujita. Like fajita, only Fujita. Is this the guy who flew to Washington to attack stuff but then didn't? Basically? No. Okay. We're in Oregon. That's what I meant. Oregon Shut up. We're talking about Washington. Before, too, I'm allowed to make mistakes.

12:39 Have you heard yourself so far, hi? Okay, so Nobuo Fujita was born in 19, 1911 and he was a japanese naval aviator that's the same year baba venga was born 1911 yeah, that's right and ronald reagan. I was right, by the way, when I said that in that episode so he was a naval aviary of the imperial japanese navy, so he flew a float plane from a long-range submarine aircraft carrier, the i-25, not to be confused with the guadalcanal story, the i-26 yep, I was gonna say wait a minute I was like I had to do a little extensive research on. I was like, okay, wait a minute, I have to I gotta double check this thing, well, as soon as you said that, I, that's what mine went to, so that's funny so the japanese submarines, the i-25 and the i-26, are from the same class, sure?

13:32 so? Uh, they were both type b submarines, which is a class of medium-sized submarines built by the imperial japanese navy. Okay, the type b submarines were characterized by their relatively small size, high speed and good maneuverability okay, I knocked out that word like a champ maneuverability stop saying you might fuck it up okay, they were primarily used for reconnaissance and patrol duties, although some of them were equipped with torpedoes and offensive purposes Torpedo tubes. So Nobuo Fujita joined the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1932. So he was 21. And became a pilot in 1933.

14:14 Okay, he flew a Yokosuka E-14Y, a reconnaissance seaplane, and we call it the US calls it a Glenn. A Glenn. Mm-hmm. Okay. So, just like hurricanes are named after men and women's names in World War II, allied names for Japanese aircraft were given names to help identify them. Oh, I did not know that. that's kind of a neat tidbit so men's names were fighter aircraft, okay, and women's names were for bombers, oh, really, yes.

14:56 So according to the us, he flew a glen huh I never knew they did that for that's pretty cool yeah so his plane could actually be folded up and placed inside a watertight capsule attached to the deck of the submarine sure that makes sense because obviously if they have to dive you screw it. Otherwise it's like, well, they left the plane behind, but my plane's floating up there. I think that's a target yeah, I think that's going to give us away guys so I have the specs of the, the glenn plane. Is there anything that you would want to know, like speed, height, wingspan, anything? like that. What? What's the overall?

15:37 yeah, start with wingspan wingspan is, uh, 11 meters or 36 feet oh, oh. That's quite long, longer than I anticipated. What was the length of it? The length is 8.54 meters or 28 feet. So it was shorter than the wingspan. Wow, that's kind of weird. Okay, and how fast could it go? So the maximum speed was 246 kilometers per hour, which is 153 miles an hour. That's still pretty quick. What was its range? Because obviously it was like this is one that had to fly lower right. Yes, so that one the range is 881 kilometers, or 547 miles, that's still a pretty good distance.

16:24 Yeah, okay, all right. Yeah, Cool huh. Yeah, I think I'm satisfied with my specs. Awesome, I can continue now, yep. Carry on. Okay. So nine months after Pearl Harbor, on September 9th 1942, 30- 30 year old nobuo fujita assembled his seaplane on the deck of the sub and catapulted into the air so they literally just kind of shoot him off the deck so, cruising at 90 miles an hour, he headed straight for the shores of oregon in an attempt to avenge the Doolittle Raid Right. So the Doolittle Raid was. That happened on April 18th 1942.

17:05 16 American B-25 bombers launched from aircraft carriers 650 miles east of Japan and attacked the Japanese mainland, and it was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James H Doolittle Yep. So Nobudo fujita was going straight to oregon to avenge the doolittle raid did you find out any reason why they picked oregon? and yes, I said oregon yes oh good but I will continue. So there was a lot going on in Oregon at this time, 1942. The state was heavily involved in the war effort and there were significant changes to the economy and society.

17:48 So Oregon did a ton of shipbuilding. So Portland Oregon became a major shipping hub during the war. So their shipyards, including the Kaiser Shipyards and the Willamette Iron and Steel Company, and they expanded their operations to meet the urgent need for vessels. So they had different types of ships. One was called Liberty Ships. They were large standardized cargo ships used to transport troops and supplies. They were large standardized cargo ships used to transport troops and supplies. There was victory ships, faster, more efficient version of the Liberty ship. Why wouldn't you just make them all faster then?

18:29 I mean, you would think right, yeah, okay. And then there was a T2SEA2 tanker. That's a mouthful, yeah. They were oil tankers used to transport fuel to Allied forces. Oh sure. Okay. So the shipbuilding industry provided employment for thousands of Oregonians, and Oregon's manufacturing capabilities also contribute to the war effort. They produced aircraft parts, propellers, engines to the war effort. They produced aircraft parts, propellers, engines, um, and then they even um had timber resources there, so lumber was used to construct the strip construct the ships okay aircraft and military bases, and then agricultural sure stuff as well.

19:17 Yeah, right, okay, so I'm gonna quote fujita himself. Oh yes, so this was taken from a us naval institute website okay so quote. It was then that my idea occurred to me submarine aircraft were armed with bombs. A plane could search far ahead of a submarine and attack shipping, or it could combine a joint attacks with the mothership. So nope, I'm going to continue. I thought the end quote was there, but it's not. Oh, okay, Lieutenant Tsukidu. Tsukidu. The executive officer became very excited about the idea and we discussed how Japanese submarines could attack, say, panama Canal and aircraft factories or naval bases around San Diego, san Francisco and Seattle all at the same time.

20:13 More submarine-borne planes could help cut supply lines and bomb any ships that came to the rescue of the enemy. You ought to put your ideas in writing, fujita, he said, and forward them to high command, end quote. There you go so it was Fujita's idea to have ships which nope have planes on these submarines. That's pretty impressive, yeah, and they carried it out. They did Also. If you do good work, you're gonna get more responsibility, which is why he was asked to bomb oregon oh sure he's like hey, this is your idea, you're gonna do it, you're gonna do it so nobuo was. Nobuo was actually disappointed that oregon was chosen right, can we go somewhere tropical?

20:57 He was hoping for a larger port city in california. Sure makes sense yeah, he wanted more glory basically, but a fellow officer named unknown, um, said quote the northwestern united states is full of forests. Once a blaze gets started in the deep woods, it is very difficult to stop. Sure, sometimes whole towns are destroyed. If we were to bomb some of these forests, it would put the enemy in too much trouble. It might even cause large-scale panic. Once residents knew japan could reach out and bomb their factories and homes from 5 000 miles away. End quote. Okay, that was also from the us naval institute website gotcha.

21:41 So, with his flight suit on, he clipped a piece of. He clipped a piece of his hair and his finger clippings okay fingernail clippings, that's more accurate I knew what you meant, but thank you for clarifying and then he put those things in a really small tin box and if he weren't to return, that box would be given to his wife for burial. Oh well, so at least that's something. Yeah, exactly, Okay, exactly. Sure. So Nobuo unfolded his plane and loaded it with incendiary bombs. Yep Makes sense. So these bombs contained a mixture of magnesium and thermite and were designed to create intense heat and molten metal, which would penetrate structures and start fires.

22:27 Sure, no, I mean, that's pretty much what they were going for Burn down the Pacific Northwest, yeah. So his target was the forest surrounding Mount Emily. Okay, it's about 6,000 feet above sea level. Was Mount Emily named after someone named emily? I didn't look that part up. That was not part of my research carry on but it was just west of the coastal town of brookings and it's literally just over the california border oh, so it's pretty far south and it is, yeah, it's very yeah, it's in the very like t in the very tippy bottom corner, tippy bottom corner. The bottom left corner. The one, you know, the tippy bottom.

23:08 Maybe that's the episode title Tippy bottom, tippy bottom corner. Anyways, sorry, carry on. So he dropped two bombs within five or six miles of each other. Both exploded and nobuo raced back to the sup, avoiding two merchant ships off the coast. Oh so it just so happened that the night before it had rained in oregon and the bombs were essentially useless because yeah, because it was wet damp can't ignite that one of them did start a small fire, but several men of the us forest service in outlook towers say they saw the smoke and were able to extinguish it.

23:55 Wow that did not go as planned for them approximately 60 pounds of fragments, including the nose of the bomb, were found at the site, and they were turned over to the us army wow okay. So nobuo went back to the i-25 and they were spotted by the army air force. So the sub dove underwater to be undetected and they continued to lay on the ocean floor for 20 days. Yeah, that sucks. When they resurfaced on september 29th, naboo again took off for the oregon coast with two more incendiary bombs. So they checked the weather first.

24:37 I don't know. I don't know if they knew why, or even if they if the weather first. I don't know. I don't know if they knew why, or even if the fire did go up in blaze. You know, they probably had no idea. It's possible. Why did this not work? Yeah, they're under the ocean at this point. Well, yeah, and so, wow, that's funny though, yeah. So these two other incendiary bombs, the US didn't even notice them, they did nothing. These two other incendiary bombs. The US didn't even notice them. They did nothing Right. So on their way home to Japan the submarine torpedoed and sank the US. Excuse me, sank the SS Camden Okay and SS Larry Doheny, which were both tankers. Gotcha. The I-25 also sank the Soviet submarine L-16, which was in transit between dutch arbor alaska and san francisco um making.

25:26 It was actually mistaken for a american submarine oh sure as japan and the ussr were not in the war like against each other at this time, right. So the ussr did see this as a threat, but it wasn't until 1945 that the two fought in the war. So the two attacks on Oregon in September 1942 were the only enemy aircraft bombings of the contiguous United States, correct? Yeah, so they did bomb the Aleutian Islands, I think, which is like that little tale of Alaska, right, but it was of Alaska, right, but it was also islands. Yes, we don't consider that part of the states, plus, obviously, pearl Harbor, of course.

26:09 Exactly. So Nobuo continued as a pilot, primarily serving in reconnaissance duties, and he was promoted for his skills. He transferred to a Naval air core and he taught seaplane um training and later joined a main mainland air defense unit. He also offered to join the kamikaze special attack force. Why? You know what they do, right, so uh. He was preparing to take part in an attack. He was training with Kamikaze people, but due to poor visibility at sea and the difficulty with the inexperienced pilot, he actually did not perform any missions.

26:55 Well, clearly. Yeah, so during the end of the war, in late August 1943, off the coast of vanitu, which is near australia, the crew of the uss patterson detected sonar from a large japanese submarine lurking nearby. Okay, okay wait, so they saw jaws the destroyer launched an attack, unleashing a barrage of depth charges that illuminated the dark waters beneath them they just see a silhouette of a submarine that would be so cool I mean that's like a, like a cartoon or something.

27:43 But in case you don't know, because I didn't, a depth charge is an underwater explosive device used to attack submarines, correct, so it's typically dropped from a shift or aircraft and is designed to detonate at a specific depth beneath the surface of the water, hence the name depth charge. So when a depth charge explodes, it creates a shockwave that can damage or destroy a submarine. Depth charges were widely used during World War II to combat the submarine threat. Yeah, because they were pretty prevalent in World War II. So a massive underwater explosion signaled the USS Patterson's success. The I-25, once a formidable threat, was never heard from again.

28:27 Sunk to the bottom of the ocean? Sure did. And where was this? Again, sorry. This was off of Australia. Okay, so fast forward 20 years, oh dear. I think I just had a stroke 1962. 1962. Okay, oregon was about to have their annual Azalea Festival. Who doesn't have an Azalea Festival these days? Starting in 1939, each Memorial Day quote this event includes a Friday night dance party in Azalea Park. Oh, there you go. Saturday morning Azalea Festival parade in downtown Brookings.

29:08 Nice. Street, market fair and Azalea Park concerts. Enjoy Memorial Day weekend on the coast and come join the fun. End quote. Is that? Did you get that from? Like an actual flyer, from back in the? day. It was on their website, nice. I mean, it sounds like a flyer you would see up on the on a bill or not a billboard, but like a store or something. Yeah, it was on their website, that's awesome because they still do the azalea festival. That's, that's fantastic so, um, as president of the local junior chamber of commerce of brookings, bill mcchesney, okay, and the rest of the jcs. He came up, they came up with a plan. Over a couple of beers, of course, let's invite nobuo fujita to the festival as a sign of goodwill just leave your incendiaries at home exactly they're like yeah, that's a great idea.

30:01 Let's go tell the world. Huh. Well, the Brookings residents were a little divided over Fujita's visit. Can you blame some of the people though? No, be like okay, no, that is such a good gesture, you know, let's, it's peace ties, yeah. And then the other was like dude, you like bombed our forests, you tried to burn our shit down. So a local op-ed was printed, yeah, and it criticized fujita's wartime actions, and the editorial garnered significant support. Sure, so many residents, especially veterans who fought in the pacific theater, expressed strong opposition.

30:43 The controversy escalated to heated discussions within the community. Bill McChesney even got a death threat. Oh Jesus. Quote I got a death threat in the middle of the night. He remembers this guy said if you walk with that man down the street, we're going to have rifles pointed at you and your family. End quote. And when I say man, man, that was my own word that I entered because they used a derogatory term. Oh sure so the local gcs convened an emergency meeting at the mcchesney's home. These young entrepreneurs, all under 35, all right, unanimously decided that they'd invite nobuo Fujita back to Oregon.

31:25 So they said fuck it, let's do it, Yep. Supposedly the invitation actually earned the respect of then-president JFK, who congratulated the town for its efforts and promote international friendship. Nice, yeah, I've seen this stated in a couple of my sources, but there was no other specifics other than jfk congratulated them, sure. So the trip was formally arranged after the japanese government assured fujita that he would not be arrested or tried as a criminal I mean, you can't blame him for wondering, because it's like holy shit, I bombed them. What's gonna my at war criminal now exactly, yeah, so nobuo, his wife and their son stayed at the McChesney's home for the first few days in Brookings.

32:10 Oh wow, mm-hmm. Years after his 1962 trip Fujita revealed that he didn't know what would happen during his visit in Brookings. Part of him feared that he would be pelted with rotten eggs or even tried for war crimes. If so, he would have used his centuries-old family katana for seppuku or ritual suicide. yeah kind of did you ever see the um, what's it called the the wolverine, one of the hugh jackman movies. They show him because he got captured during world war ii over in nagasaki or whatever, and they show some of the guys like doing that oh no, I haven't seen that.

32:51 It's pretty decent, I enjoy it so this sword went with him literally on each of his flight missions he took it with him everywhere. I mean, you can't do it if you don't have it and it was passed down from his generations over like 400 years. Did he give it to his kid. Well, he brought it to Brookings, just in case. In case I need to kill myself today. But instead of passing it on to his son, he presented his family most prized possession to the city of Brookings. Oh wow, when he was met with kindness, sincerity and respect. That's pretty cool. So in a nationalinterestorg article, nobuo said, quote this is the finest way of closing the story.

33:33 He said as he presented the sword to Mayor C Fell Campbell it is the samurai tradition to pledge peace and friendship by presenting a sword to a former enemy. End quote. Okay, wow, that's pretty big of them to do that. Do they still have it on display there? Yes, sweet. The Fujitas were the center of attention during their visit. Obviously, right Nobuo was honored with a key to the city. He piloted a plane over the bomb site and even attempted to play the bagpipes in a parade. Why, I don't know that seems weird, but I like it. Bagpipes are awesome. I'm in a marching band and I've seen a bull here. Try my trombone, Go ahead, Give it a try.

34:15 Have you played the trumpet before here? you are, sir. So there were still some underlying tensions. Sure. Several individuals, including the Forest Service employee who first discovered the bomb site, were actually detained as a precautionary measure to prevent any potential conflicts. Oh, that's probably smart. Yeah, wow. So over the next three decades he visited the town several times. Oh, wow, he came back. Yeah, he donated books about international relations to the community and, despite financial hardships, he hosted three female students from brookings high school to visit japan in 1985. That's cool.

34:56 During the visit, fujita received a us flag flown over the us capitol building and and a dedic, a dedicated letter from an aide of president ronald reagan. That quote with admiration for your kindness and generosity. End quote. That's pretty cool. In 1992, he planted a tree at the bomb site as a gesture of peace. In 1995, he moved the samurai sword from the Brookings City Hall into the new library's display case. Okay. So Fujita helped to gather money to help build the library, and he was later named an ambassador of goodwill by the city for his continued peace efforts.

35:37 His sword is still on display there that's pretty cool. So it's you said, a library it is a library, that's cool nice fujita was made an honorary citizen of brookings. While hospitalized for lung cancer, he died a few days later, on September 30, 1997, at the age of 85. A year later, in October 1998, his daughter buried some of Fujita's ashes at the bomb site near Brookings. According to local resident, brenda Jackss, who also is the librarian, nobuo's daughter told her that quote part of her father's soul would forever be flying over mount emily end quote. That's cool.

36:18 Today you can visit the bomb site, sure, and to hike it, the site number is number 1118 1118 and that is the story, the happy story of nobuo fujita the only person who managed to bomb the contiguous what a word, contiguous us, who was invited back and honored in a true gesture of international friendship that's pretty cool, yeah, because you don't, obviously, especially with war stuff, a lot of people. And then clearly there still was some that just were like, no, fuck that guy oh yeah, you know they. I think there's still opinions on that. I did read I did read a story about a veteran who was really upset that he came and he was kind of a burden a little bit to the community over it.

37:09 That's too bad. But then as he kind of grew older he finally like understood what this all meant okay and he is actually in charge of keeping that display case clean and basically upkeeping it. That's pretty and he's happy to do it like sure he his mind completely changed. Okay, nice, yeah, so I get to drink my beverage now yeah, so thank you for that story. it was much more uplifting than I don't know what we're used to with. Usually it's filled with death and destruction. Yeah, but uh, while you drink your beverage? Yes, I something. It's not really a quiz per se, okay, but I'm going to do an idiom and you have to guess which explanation is correct.

37:58 Oh. You ready for that? Yeah. Did you come up with this idiom yourself? This idiom is from your parents. Oh, okay, one of those. Yep, okay, so your parents enjoyed one of the ones. We did, yes, and so they gave a suggestion to you to give to me to do. Okay, cool, I don't remember who they are. You will. So we're doing a one truth, two lies, idiom, one truth two lies, okay, okay. So fall off the wagon or fell off the wagon. You said wagon. Wagon. You totally said wagon, like a true Wisconsinite. Well, I've never lived anywhere else.

38:38 But anyways. Wagon is an informal idiom that means to start drinking alcohol again after a period of abstinence. It can also be used to describe returning to any bad habits such as smoking, gambling or drugs, etc. I had chocolate today. I fell off the wagon, Did you, though? Actually I did, but it was puppy chow. Oh nice, I do enjoy me some puppy chow. All right, explanation number one. Okay, now, before I read these, I found all these. You have to guess which one is correct.

39:20 So were they all a potential. I will not divulge that information. Okay, we'll chat about that afterwards. Okay, all right, yeah, all right, yeah, all right. So explanation number one Back in the 1800s, when hangings were a common practice, loved ones would go to these to see their family member, friend, etc. Whoever it might have been, as a last-ditch effort of support for those people. People had to drive far, sometimes because they lived out of town on their farms and ranches. To get into town, knowing what they were headed to, many would drink heavily to try and numb the pain of what they were about to witness. I don't blame them.

40:00 Because of that, by the time they arrived at the hanging they would be so drunk that they would fall off the wagon. Okay, Okay. That's number one. Okay fall off the wagon. Okay, okay, that's number one, okay, number two. The original version of this expression was on the water wagon or water cart, which isn't heard anymore because obviously everyone says off the wagon or fell off the wagon. During the late 19th century, water carts drawn by horses wet down dusty roads in the summer to lessen the amount of dust getting in the air. They still do that. Yeah, at the height of Prohibition crusade in the late 1800s, men who vowed to stop drinking would say that they were thirsty indeed, but would rather climb aboard the water cart to get a drink than break their pledges.

40:46 From this came the expression I'm on the water cart or I'm trying to stop drinking. Basically, the word wagon was replaced, or soon replaced, cart, in the saying, and it would eventually just be shortened to on the wagon. So if you fell off the wagon, you started drinking again. All right. Third one During a plague in the 1500s, townspeople would have to pull a wagon around town to collect the deceased, to dispose of them. While doing so, because there were so many, the carts would become increasingly full. Because of this and trying to be efficient and make less trips, sometimes they would be so overloaded that bodies would literally fall off the wagon.

41:27 With bodies falling off off, it looked like the streets were lined with drunk, passed out people. Over time people would see someone alive but drunk and passed out on the side of the road and exclaim they must have fallen off the wagon. So which? one of those which one of those is right? well well I think my mom would say the first one yes, oh gosh, I don't know. They're all so believable. I don't think it's number two okay because I think there's too many like changes that happened, sure um, and number three is just funny.

42:10 I hope it's number three I'm glad you picked number three, because I completely made that up no yes, that was not found on the internet or anything. I just literally wrote a short story great job, thank you number one is the one your mom yeah suggested it was yeah, also incorrect. Oh, really yes is it number two? yes, everything I found on it was number two. I adjusted what it said and everything and whatever to make it sound more like the other two. Wow, but everything I found. So again we do these ams. There's a lot of explanations for things I still could be wrong, partially wrong.

42:53 Can you summarize that number two again? basically they had water carts going through the streets. People are pledging not to drink, so he's like I would rather jump up on this water cart and drink the water than drink booze is basically what they're saying. So they were on the wagon drinking the water instead of in a tavern drinking alcohol basically. So that's so weird. I know they replaced it like the water cart to wagon yeah, for it didn't really tell me why they replaced that word they just maybe water carts eventually became water wagons, that's very possible yeah but either way, um everything I found I could find was number two is correct.

43:36 That is crazy. So I thought those were pretty funny yeah I even had uh sarah read those and she's like I really wish it would be number three that just means, you did a really good job yeah, so I thought that one was. I mean it's somewhat believable, it is. She's like it's so kind of like far-fetched that it actually could be real. Yeah, and I kind of did that on purpose. But I mean, there are death cards and stuff well, I mean part of my inspiration, for it was Monty Python. I was like bring out your dead. And they're taking the cart through the town. I'm not dead yet. I'm not dead yet. Yes, you are, yes, you are, we will probably reference that movie a lot.

44:21 I'm not sure why, but if you haven't seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail, absolutely worth a watch At least once in your lifetime. Twice, maybe too many times. Well, it's not. It's not one that has a ton of rewatchability yeah, I could not rewatch that over, and over and over it's like once, every kind of once every decade and a half for me, as I say decade to two. Yeah, you know, um, it's still worth. At least I'll watch it is absolutely worth it so yeah, yeah, it's pretty good that was a good one. Well, thank you, yeah, I like that. Uh, one truth and two lies, that was great yeah. So we'll try that again in the in the future with, uh, future idioms and see if that you know how, the, how they go, I guess basically yeah, awesome, yeah.

45:11 Well, what did you think? Did you finish your basil mint? cider I did. I think there might be a drop in there um, so I'm only about halfway through, yep, um, and I feel like I need some food in my belly with the 6.9 alcohol content. Good point, we can figure that out for you yes, that's the thing. I have puppy chow in my car oh, excellent. I mean it doesn't taste like 6.9, it's pretty good no, it's really good, um no, it's. It's a nice sipper. Obviously I finished mine because you were doing your story, so that makes sense. But yeah, did you like the story? I did. Yeah, um, I had I had heard about I didn't know all the particulars, but I have heard about that guy before kind of coming over and whatever, so I didn't know all the specifics like that though.

45:58 So that's kind of cool so I I like to find books as opposed to like websites, right um. So I found a book and I was like all right, purchase, it's only like $2.99 or something on Kindle whatever. It was a kid's book. I'm like refund, refund, refund. Can you do that on Kindle? I did. So I was able to, because I asked for a refund, probably within like two or three minutes. Oh. So if it's pretty quick, like if you had it for a week, they'd be like go fuck yourself. Yeah, they might also be able to tell how far you got into the book. Oh sure, but I skipped. Okay. So I was like page one, page 15, page 30.

46:39 I was like, oh crap, this is all. This is just a kid's like illustrated picture story book. So I did get a refund and I didn't read it. But yeah, yeah, so all of my resources were were websites, um, but many of them were like the us naval institute and stuff like that. So no, that's pretty cool it's I mean again. It's nice, a little more uplifting than normal, because we're not talking about someone just murdering their mother or whatever. It might be someone just murdering their mother or whatever. It might be Nero Nero. But uh, yeah, it was nice that you know the people did embrace him like they did and he actually became quite a pretty big part of their community.

47:19 Yeah. You know, up until basically he died, I mean, and he lived quite a long time, he was 85. So that's pretty impressive yeah. But no, that's pretty impressive. Yeah, but no, that's pretty cool. So yeah, like I liked it well done. Thanks, you're welcome. Challenge ended well, let's not let's continue. I did a good job I did good job. No, no, very well done thank you yeah, but well I suppose all right, buffoons. That's it for today's episode. Buckle up, because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you. Next time Feeling hungry for more buffoonery, or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore.

48:03 Hit us up on social media. We're History Buffoons Podcast on Reddit, x, instagram and Facebook. You can also email us at historybuffoonspodcast at gmailcom. Follow us wherever you get your podcasts and turn those notifications on to stay in the loop. Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to rate and review us. Remember, the buffoonery never stops.