THIRTY MINUTES OVER OREGON

The true story of the Japanese pilot who bombed the continental United States during World War II.

In 1941, the United States was drawn into World War II after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. retaliated with a bombing raid on Tokyo. Wanting to prove that the continental U.S. could be bombed, Japan sent Nobuo Fujita in a small plane to bomb the woods of Oregon and start a raging fire. Flying over the small town of Brookings, Oregon, Nobuo dropped the bombs into the forest, but the bombs did not create the devastation and panic that Japan had hoped for. After Japan surrendered to the U.S. and its allies, Nobuo resumed civilian life with his family but lived with guilt and shame over his wartime actions. Years later the town of Brookings invited the Japanese bomber to their Memorial Day festival. Readers can follow his emotional journey toward forgiveness and peace. Nobuo’s story of reconciliation, not only for him, but for Japan and the U.S., is powerful and poignant. Using watercolors and finely inked lines, Iwai illustrates the moving moments and events in Nobuo’s life with grace and humanity. The story captures a side of World War II readers may not have seen before.

A must-read story of a lesser-known World War II event and its aftermath