Day 1105 September 9, 1942

At 6 AM in the Pacific off the coast of Oregon, Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita takes off in his “Glen” floatplane from Japanese submarine I-25, flies inland and drops 2 incendiary bombs into the forest on Wheeler Ridge, Mount Emily. The intention is to start fires but rain-soaked brush renders the bombs ineffective. 1 small fire is put out by the US Forest Service. This is the only bombing of mainland USA in WWII. Nobuo Fujita will return to Oregon several times between 1962 and 1995 as a goodwill ambassador. Some of Fujita’s ashes are now buried at the bomb site.

Kokoda Track, Papua. Australians retreat 2 miles from Efogi and begin preparing new defenses at Menari. US aircraft from Port Moresby slow down the Japanese advance to allow the Australians time to prepare their positions. As the disaster at Efogi sinks in, more troops are sent up the Track from Port Moresby and reinforcements are ordered up from the Australian mainland (25th Infantry Brigade arrives at Port Moresby).

In the Mediterranean 85 miles Northeast of Tobruk, RAF torpedo bombers sink Italian hospital ship Arno (previously Australian WWI-era troopship HMAT Wandilla).

North Atlantic. At 3.16 PM 590 miles Northeast of St. John’s. Newfoundland, U-755 sinks US weather ship USS Muskeget on Weather Station No. 2 (all 116 crew, 1 Public Health Service officer and 4 US Weather Service civilians killed). At 3.28 PM 875 miles North of Antigua, U-66 sinks neutral Swedish Peiping (3 killed, 31 survivors reach a Caribbean island after a week).

In the evening, U-584 (1 of 12 U-boats in “Vorwarts” wolfpack) makes contact with convoy ON-127 (32 merchant ships with escorted by 2 Canadian destroyers HCMS St-Croix & HCMS Ottawa and 4 corvettes HCMS Amherst, HCMS Arvida, HCMS Sherbrooke & HCMS Celandine).