The Air-Raid Warden Was a Spy: And Other Tales From Home-Front America in World War II Read Online Free PDF Page B
Author: William B. Breuer
station. “Wish you’d monitor that wave length when you have time,” the G-man said. “If you hear anything, give us a call.”
About noon five days later, one of the operators telephoned the FBI man. “That station is sending again,” he said. “Sounds like a mobile marine unit at 6908 kilocycles, and it could be close to shore.”
Several FBI agents rapidly put in telephone calls to the Pan American Airways Station at Treasure Island, in San Francisco Bay, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) monitoring stations at Portland, Oregon,
Rounding Up Subversive Suspects 21
and Santa Anna, near Los Angeles. These facilities were asked to tune in and take a directional reading on the mystery station. The telephone lines were held open.
In less than five minutes, the operator in the Pan American post said over the telephone lines: “According to my charting, that offshore station is sending from about eight miles off Point Mendocino, which is about two hundred miles northwest of here.”
The FBI agent immediately telephoned the information to the Pacific Naval Coastal Frontier headquarters, which promptly relayed the data to the PBY (amphibious airplane) on patrol.
Ten minutes later the navy post called back to report receipt of a message from the PBY: “Attacking enemy submarine.”
Two bombs were dropped, one landing behind the submarine and the other ahead of it. Then Army bombers arrived and dropped several depth charges on the now submerged submarine. Minutes later a large oil slick rose to the surface and spread over the water.
Men in the Army bombers felt they had destroyed the underwater vessel. But its fate would never be known for a certainty. As for the G-men who had worked on the case, they liked to think that they had played a key role in the destruction of a Japanese submarine. 15
Rounding Up Subversive Suspects
M ONTHS BEFORE WAR ERUPTED in the Pacific, J. Edgar Hoover, the peppery director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had been getting his agency prepared for emergency operations. Now he put the FBI on a twenty-four-hour schedule. Annual leaves were cancelled. The entire force was faced with its greatest challenge—rapidly rounding up a few thousand subversive suspects from a list put together in recent months.
Prior to late 1939, when Hoover was designated by President Roosevelt to take sole control of the battle against spies and saboteurs, the United States had been a subversive’s paradise. Spies and saboteurs could and did roam the nation at will.
During the 1930s, Adolf Hitler’s espionage apparatus had invaded America with the most massive penetration of a major nation that history had known. Nazi agents stole nearly every military, industrial, and government secret. Hoover and his men had nailed scores of spies, but there were a large number still burrowed into the fabric of American society.
With the invasion of America’s West Coast a distinct threat in the early weeks of the war, Hoover was especially concerned that the Tokyo warlords had received a massive amount of military and industrial secrets obtained by Lieutenant Commander Hideki Tachibana, who had projected himself as a language officer in the Japanese consulate in Los Angeles.
Back in May 1941, the FBI reported to Secretary of State Cordell Hull, who had been born in a log cabin in the Tennessee mountains, that G-men had uncovered widespread espionage activities by Tachibana. His diplomatic post had allowed him to travel up and down the West Coast unchallenged.
Hull gave the green light to arrest Tachibana, and he was taken into custody. A few days later the new Japanese ambassador to the United States, Kichisaburo Nomura, pleaded with Hull to release Tachibana in the interest of promoting good relations between the two governments.
For whatever the reason, Hull, who no doubt had the approval of President Roosevelt, agreed to free the Japanese spy, who was promptly deported. No doubt he took with
About noon five days later, one of the operators telephoned the FBI man. “That station is sending again,” he said. “Sounds like a mobile marine unit at 6908 kilocycles, and it could be close to shore.”
Several FBI agents rapidly put in telephone calls to the Pan American Airways Station at Treasure Island, in San Francisco Bay, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) monitoring stations at Portland, Oregon,
Rounding Up Subversive Suspects 21
and Santa Anna, near Los Angeles. These facilities were asked to tune in and take a directional reading on the mystery station. The telephone lines were held open.
In less than five minutes, the operator in the Pan American post said over the telephone lines: “According to my charting, that offshore station is sending from about eight miles off Point Mendocino, which is about two hundred miles northwest of here.”
The FBI agent immediately telephoned the information to the Pacific Naval Coastal Frontier headquarters, which promptly relayed the data to the PBY (amphibious airplane) on patrol.
Ten minutes later the navy post called back to report receipt of a message from the PBY: “Attacking enemy submarine.”
Two bombs were dropped, one landing behind the submarine and the other ahead of it. Then Army bombers arrived and dropped several depth charges on the now submerged submarine. Minutes later a large oil slick rose to the surface and spread over the water.
Men in the Army bombers felt they had destroyed the underwater vessel. But its fate would never be known for a certainty. As for the G-men who had worked on the case, they liked to think that they had played a key role in the destruction of a Japanese submarine. 15
Rounding Up Subversive Suspects
M ONTHS BEFORE WAR ERUPTED in the Pacific, J. Edgar Hoover, the peppery director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had been getting his agency prepared for emergency operations. Now he put the FBI on a twenty-four-hour schedule. Annual leaves were cancelled. The entire force was faced with its greatest challenge—rapidly rounding up a few thousand subversive suspects from a list put together in recent months.
Prior to late 1939, when Hoover was designated by President Roosevelt to take sole control of the battle against spies and saboteurs, the United States had been a subversive’s paradise. Spies and saboteurs could and did roam the nation at will.
During the 1930s, Adolf Hitler’s espionage apparatus had invaded America with the most massive penetration of a major nation that history had known. Nazi agents stole nearly every military, industrial, and government secret. Hoover and his men had nailed scores of spies, but there were a large number still burrowed into the fabric of American society.
With the invasion of America’s West Coast a distinct threat in the early weeks of the war, Hoover was especially concerned that the Tokyo warlords had received a massive amount of military and industrial secrets obtained by Lieutenant Commander Hideki Tachibana, who had projected himself as a language officer in the Japanese consulate in Los Angeles.
Back in May 1941, the FBI reported to Secretary of State Cordell Hull, who had been born in a log cabin in the Tennessee mountains, that G-men had uncovered widespread espionage activities by Tachibana. His diplomatic post had allowed him to travel up and down the West Coast unchallenged.
Hull gave the green light to arrest Tachibana, and he was taken into custody. A few days later the new Japanese ambassador to the United States, Kichisaburo Nomura, pleaded with Hull to release Tachibana in the interest of promoting good relations between the two governments.
For whatever the reason, Hull, who no doubt had the approval of President Roosevelt, agreed to free the Japanese spy, who was promptly deported. No doubt he took with
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