New documentary about the FUGO balloon offensive over North America (3/30/2008)

"On a Wind and a Prayer" is the title of a new documentary released on DVD which tells the story of a not too much spreaded event of the second world war. Just weeks after the Japanese strike on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the beaches and headlands of the Pacific North West coast were full of thousands of alert Military and Civil Defense personnel, scattered along there entire length and dedicated to patrolling and gazing out to the distant horizon, waiting to defend their nation from a potential Japanese invasion that never seemed to come. However, the invasion would materialize three years later in a way that no one imagined: sending balloon-bombs (named Fugos) launched by the Japanese imperial forces from the other side of the Pacific.

The Documentary film, writed and directed by Michael White, retraces this unusual and incredible story and the events that led up to it, and its outcome. A careful computer graphic reconstruction of the Fugo weapons functions and its gracefulness in flight pull the viewer into the strange, and at times bizarre nature of these forgotten historical attacks on the United States and Canada.

The visual aspect of the film is complemented with interviews to three experts on the subject. One of them is Robert C. Mikesh, author of "Japan's World War II Balloon Bomb Attack on North America by far, the best documented book on the subject. "...The balloon bomb attack against North America was a real threat. It was actually happening, it was a matter of what is the magnitude that this is going to develop into....". It has been estimated that nearly one thousand of the potentially deadly bombs must have reached their target but only 361 incidents have ever been accounted for, in an area stretching from the Aleutians to Mexico and as far East as the state of Michigan. Mikesh adds that "When you stop to think of that number of weapons, scattered all over the United States, the potential was quite great, think of the panic that it could have caused. Think of the fires that it could have caused. You could get carried away with your imagination on what could have happened."

Another expert who appears in the documentary is Michael Unsworth, Historian from the Michigan State University. He has been gripped by this story for the last thirty years and often lectures on its implications "...It stressed the American and Canadian infra structures which were drawn down both military and civilian. If especially biological weapons were used, there was a chance of introducing some serious illnesses among the animal and human populations, in countering them, investigating them, doing quarantines would really stress the system."

When the balloons appeared over northamerica and the authorities realised the real dimension of the threat, a tight censorship fell over all news on the subject. During the six months offensive from November 1944 to April 1945, the balloon bombs took the lives of six Americans when manouvering a package found among trees in Bly, Oregon. They were the only victims of World War II on American soil. This unfortunate event forced the government to change their policy and to inform to the public opinion on the hazardous balloons. By then the Japanese had gived up on the launches thinking that the attacks were ineffective. Decades later, the Balloon Bomb Offensive has been erased not only from the U.S. National awareness, but also from their collective history. Most primary sources on the Balloon attacks remained classified until the early 1980s because information on the Fugo Balloon Bomb technology was used by the U.S. military for their own balloon spying activities against the Soviet Union during the Cold War, much to their later regret and political embarrassment.

A final testimony comes from Kiochi Yoshino, author of “Balloon Bombs, Documents of the Fugo, a Japanese Weapon”, who tracked down and interviewed some of the surviving schoolgirls who were among the thousands that were engaged as the main workforce in the making of the Fugo Balloon Bombs. His poignant words contribute yet another viewpoint to the attacks.

History and amused critics have tended to make light over this potentially deadly weapon. Although the damage caused by the Japanese Fu-go Balloon Bombs late in World War II was slight, the psychological impact was real and secured their place in history as the world’s first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.

The documentary was recently aired on History Channel. More information on how to purchase it and sample footage and images can be found at the Documentary web site in http://www.onawindandaprayer.com/