Jap's Bright Yellow Turnip Field at Sand Point Mowed.

BLOSSOMS MARKED U.S. AIR STATION

The bright yellow blossoms on two fields of turnips going to seed near Sand Point Air Station, on a farm formerly operated by a Japanese, were mowed today by the Washington State Highway Department on suspicion that they "marked" the airfield from the skies.

The two fields, each about a block square, are just across Sand Point Way from the Air Station between East 65th And 70th Streets. The farm has been uninhabited since the operator was taken into custody after Pearl Harbor.

R.G. Still, assistant maintenance engineer for the Highway Department, in charge of the crew mowing the fields, said he had been instructed to mow the turnip patches by Gov. Arthur B. Langlie after officials of the 13th Naval District reported [complaints] from residents who have observed the two bright yellow areas.

Officials of the Naval District said two officers made an observation flight yesterday and reported that, whether intentional or not, the fields of yellow did form a marker pointing out Sand Point. So long as the farm is uninhabited, they decided to take no chances on leaving the fields ablaze with blossoms.

The land is owned by a realty firm, which gave approval and encouragement for the mowing operation.

Turnips generally are harvested in November and December, but these two fields were left in the ground, either intentionally or because the Japanese operator was taken in custody. A crop of peas on the farm, also neglected, is developing despite lack of care.

Naval officials pointed out the fields are not in the form of arrows nor pointers, but are extraordinarily conspicuous because they are the only yellow blossoms in the vicinity and are massed on the two fields, separated only by the farmhouse.

It was pointed out that flower beds and sugar-cane fields in the vicinity of Pearl Harbor installations were discovered to have been marked after the Hawaiian bombings, and officials now believe in taking no chances.

The yellow fields were at first believed fields of mustard, but Highway Department crews discovered they were turnips when they began to mow today.