Japan's Kamikaze Winds, the Stuff of Legend, May Have Been Real

An ancient story tells of the kamikaze, or "divine wind," that twice saved Japan from Kublai Khan's Mongol fleets. So powerful was the legend that centuries later thousands of World War II pilots known as kamikazes would sign up to protect Japan again, by crashing their planes in suicide missions.

Now University of Massachusetts Amherst geologist Jon Woodruff says he has uncovered evidence of some truth to the legend of the ancient kamikazes, typhoon-strength winds that saved Japan from Kublai Khan in the 13th century.

Woodruff traveled halfway around the world to find evidence of the winds in Japanese lake beds, near the site of shipwrecks thought to be part of Kublai Khan's sunken armada.