America's Deadliest Killers Hidden And Protected By The Government

late in 1944, the U.S. Navy at Okinawa suffered some of it's greatest losses of the war. The reason: new Japanese weapon. Virtually infallible. Anything we had they could hit, a string of brilliant military successes summed up in one word:Kamikaze.

The term doesn't specifically refer to suicide. In Japanese, Kamikaze means "divine wind." A deadly invisible force with a mind of it's own.

In graphic terms, the kamikazes were human bombs. Devastating as were their deeds, just the thought of an elite corps of Japanese pilots flying explosives-laden planes into American ships was awe-inspiring to the Western world. Morally unconscionable, we said then. And still say.

And yet...the American Armed Forces had a suicide squadron as well! The Japanese kamikazes began late in 1944, very late in the war. Our American kamikazes were ready to fly, ready to attack the Japanese, early in 1943. Almost two years before!

During the historic Japanese raid on Pearl harbor December 7, 1941, for the Japanese, kamikaze suicide tactics were three years in the future. And yet a month later - sometime in January of 1942 - a Pennsylvania surgeon named L. S. Adams arrived in Washington with an idea for one of the most extraordinary military operations ever. A suicide squadron.

Dr. Adams, sidestepping the moral ramifications, offered technological advice only. The upper echelon of the military was apprised, and was intrigued. The proposal found it's way to FDR's desk. The President, realizing the effectiveness of such a plan, gave his approval. On direct orders from the White House, Operation X Ray was a reality.

Unlike the airplane - flying Japanese kamikazes of subsequent years, these American kamikazes would be paratroopers with incendiary bombs wired to their chests. Parachuted from bombers high over Japanese cities, the troopers would guide themselves to vunerable landmarks. The raids would occur in the predawn dark.

"There you have," as one enthusiastic project officer predicted, "the most effective weapon ever dropped from an airplane." The U. S. Kamikaze Corps.

In training maneuvers, during one trial run, Operation X Ray proved it's devastating potential by accident. At Carlsbad, New Mexico, most of an Army airfield burned to the ground. Although lives were lost that day, those were apparently the only casualties of Operation X Ray.

In the fall of 1943, after twenty months and two million dollars of preparation, the Army abandoned the operation "solely on the basis of military considerations." No other official explanation has ever been offered, but it has been suggested the military then learned that an even more deadly instrument of war was about to emerge. The Atomic bomb.

So our suicide squadron never action or made it overseas. But before we turn our attention from the extraordinary secret weapon we almost put to use, there's something else you might like to know.

Our American kamikazes were not volunteers. they were recruited against their will. Drafted.

The recruits who almost died for our cause were ordered into service by the President of the United States. The suicide paratroopers, wired with explosives and bound for Japan - our American kamikazes - were... Mexican freetailed bats.

Now you know ... the News Unheralded!

SOURCE: Files and archives of the late Paul Harvey

My, my ,my...if only animals could talk, what would they tell us? What secrets do they hold? I bet you have even wondered about this yourself... at least once... haven't you?