By Nora O’Malley Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Hesquiaht, BC – It was late in the evening on June 20, 1942, when the Japanese submarine I-26 shelled the Estevan Point Lighthouse and the Dominion government’s radio telegraph station. The incident occurred on the Hesquiaht First Nation’s former main village on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Nobody was hurt and no damage was done to the lighthouse, but the incident marked the first time enemy militants attacked Canadian soil since the War of 1812, according to official reports. Yvonne Lucas recounts the story her late husband Harry Lucas, who was a newborn at the time, heard from his mother: “The whole reserve was so panicky and scared. They all ran into the bushes. Harry said his mom ran in there with…
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