Marc Nobleman will discuss and sign copies of his book “Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot’s World War II Story” on Saturday, Feb. 29, at 2 p.m. at the Japanese American National Museum, 100 N. Central Ave., Little Tokyo.
Americans know Pearl Harbor as one of the most infamous events of World War II. However, few on either side know that Japan also bombed mainland America — twice. Navy pilot Nobuo Fujita launched a seaplane off a submarine, via catapult, and hit the woods outside the town of Brookings, Oregon. No one was killed or hurt, but all involved were changed.
Twenty years later, amid a blaze of controversy, Brookings invited Fujita back. Though nervous, he felt it was his duty to say yes. He brought his family’s 400-year-old samurai sword, which he had taken on every war mission. Always a man of honor and now a man of peace, he planned to gift it to the town.
The book recounts this remarkable true story of reconciliation.
Nobleman’s other books include “Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman,” “Brave Like My Brother,” “The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra,” and “Fairy Spell: How Two Girls Convinced the World That Fairies Are Real.”
The illustrator is Melissa Iwai, author of “Soup Day” and “Pizza Day” and illustrator of “Just Because I Am” and “We Can Get Along.”
Included with museum admission; RSVPs recommended. For more information, call (213) 625-0414 or visit www.janm.org.