Oregon Coast History: World War II Remnants You Can Visit
(Oregon Coast) – During those dark days of World War II, those which almost none of us now would be old enough to remember, Oregon played a more backseat role than many states of the union. There were shipyards in Portland and blackouts at night. Even coastal towns had an economic boost from the war effort, in spite of the fear Axis invaders might try to penetrate the western edge first. (Above: Wreck of the Peter Iredale)
While the Oregon coast really enjoyed a special sense of being sheltered from the dangers, the war did hit home here in some remarkable ways it did not anywhere else in America.
The vast majority of remnants of war efforts have disappeared from the U.S., and certainly in this state as well. But a few signs still linger: with sights and sites to see the next time you visit these beaches.
The most prominent connection between the Oregon coast and World War 2 is Battery Russell at Fort Stevens State Park. It marks the only time the mainland U.S. was fired upon by a foreign power, when a Japanese submarine fired at the shoreline nearby on June 21, 1942.
The massive guns of Battery Russell did not fire back at the submarine because it did not want to give away the location of American weaponry at that site.
It was an inadvertent target, actually. Ironically, decades later, the captain of the Japanese sub admitted he did not know such a base was there, and he would not have fired on the area had he known this.
Razor wire was spread along much of the Oregon coast, especially Clatsop Beach, after that. This included wrapping the wire around the Wreck of the Peter Iredale nearby (see photo at top).
Civil Air patrols were utilized only a little bit in Oregon when compared to other coastal states, especially the East Coast. Although in Oregon, something over 1,400 citizens volunteered, they weren't utilized much to look for submarines or aircraft.
Blimps were stationed at Tillamook (now the Tillamook Air Museum), and they did patrol the north Oregon coast regularly – mostly from Cannon Beach through Seaside and up to Astoria. These had depth charges in case they encountered a submarine.
The Tillamook Air Museum still has one of the massive blimp hangars left (the other burned down in the 90's.) It also houses a huge array of aircraft on display.
Some small amount of military patrols were used on beaches of the Oregon coast, but considering the often wild winter conditions, neither they nor Oregon Shore Patrol volunteers were used much at all.
The other solid bit of Oregon coast World War II remnants you can still see is the stone shelter at the top of Cape Perpetua. While it was actually constructed as part of the New Deal ten years earlier, it was among numerous points along the area to be used as a lookout station.
One other spot on the Oregon coast was hit by the Japanese, but in a rather haphazard way. They had released nearly 10,000 air balloons armed with bombs, simply set afloat in the air in the hopes they would hit the U.S. mainland. Only a few did.
Numerous of these “Fu-Go” bombs were found in western states, but only one exploded. That happened in 1945 on the southern Oregon coast when a pregnant woman and her five children happened upon the balloon bomb in a forest and were killed.
By far the strangest bit of Oregon coast military history comes a while after World War 2, as a secret radar installation sat in the mountains above Hebo as part of the Cold War. It was called the Air Force General Surveillance Radar Station and was active from 1956 to 1980.
According to Salem writer JD Adams, the Mt. Hebo Radar Station was manned by the 689th Radar Squadron, and was a component of the Air Force Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system for air defense.
Adams has compiled some evidence there might've been a missile silo hiding in that base. There is almost nothing visible of it now.
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