|
|
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 2,700
Campfire Regular
|
OP
Campfire Regular
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 2,700 |
Never heard this before. Well kept secret that towards the end of WW2, Japan launched bombladen balloons in hopes the Jet stream would carry them to NA. More than a few actually made it and in fact killed an adult woman and 5 children in the far West. Idaho/ Oregon?
Those who would disrespect our flag have never been handed a folded one.
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
When in the Course of human events......
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 27,091
Campfire Ranger
|
|
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 27,091 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 10,964
Campfire Outfitter
|
|
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 10,964 |
One landed near Thermopolis, Wyoming! memtb
You should not use a rifle that will kill an animal when everything goes right; you should use one that will do the job when everything goes wrong." -Bob Hagel
“I’d like to be a good rifleman…..but, I prefer to be a good hunter”! memtb 2024
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 17,927
Campfire Ranger
|
|
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 17,927 |
I vaguely remember the story from a weather class I took in college. I thought that deaths happened after the war though when some ordinance was found.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 2,700
Campfire Regular
|
|
OP
Campfire Regular
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 2,700 |
very possible since their launch was near their surrender.
Those who would disrespect our flag have never been handed a folded one.
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
When in the Course of human events......
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 151,744 Likes: 14
Campfire Savant
|
Campfire Savant
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 151,744 Likes: 14 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 2,700
Campfire Regular
|
|
OP
Campfire Regular
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 2,700 |
and didn't share? 
Those who would disrespect our flag have never been handed a folded one.
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
When in the Course of human events......
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 28,866
Campfire Ranger
|
|
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 28,866 |
I think they were killed in Oregon just a few years ago.
"Only Christ is the fullness of God's revelation."
Everyday Hunter
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 56,158 Likes: 13
Campfire Kahuna
|
|
Campfire Kahuna
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 56,158 Likes: 13 |
Uh, really old news. First came to my attention over 50 years ago.
I am..........disturbed.
Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold that there isn't any. But this wrongs the jackass. -Twain
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 8,764 Likes: 9
Campfire Outfitter
|
|
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 8,764 Likes: 9 |
You guys living in caves?
It's been mentioned on the 'Fire several times.
7mm
"Preserving the Constitution, fighting off the nibblers and chippers, even nibblers and chippers with good intentions, was once regarded by conservatives as the first duty of the citizen. It still is." � Wesley Pruden
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 104
Campfire Member
|
|
Campfire Member
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 104 |
Family near Paisley Oregon was killed when they found one of the balloons. JAPAN had a plan to set a lot wildfires across the west.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 131,766 Likes: 20
Campfire Sage
|
|
Campfire Sage
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 131,766 Likes: 20 |
Didn't know that. I guess Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified, then.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 3,167
Campfire Tracker
|
|
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 3,167 |
There were also 3-4 shelling of American and Canadian targets by Japanese submarines including one that involved a half dozen submarines. None caused any significant damage beyond damaging the baseball field at a military fort in Washington. There was an air raid by a plane launched from a submarine intended to start forest fires. It wasn't successful either. And, one cannot forget the "Battle of Los Angeles" either. It was a hard fought victory for the U.S.
Japanese efforts along the west coast of the U.S. mainland and Canada were not greatly successful. Several dozen ships were sunk off the coast, one of which was a Russian sub with whom Japan was not yet at war with. The West Coast did not have as easy of access to the Axis as the East Coast but they were not totally left out of the war.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 31,619 Likes: 4
Campfire 'Bwana
|
|
Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 31,619 Likes: 4 |
One balloon landed just outside Desdemona Texas.
Founder
Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison?
And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools,
Being native burghers of this desert city,
Should in their own confines with forked heads
Have their round haunches gored."
WS
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,397 Likes: 4
Campfire Kahuna
|
|
Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,397 Likes: 4 |
It wasn't a family. A minister and his pregnant wife were taking 5 of her teenage Sunday school students on a picnic. They think the wife found the bomb and it exploded killing her and the 5 students. The husband was a distance away and wasn't hurt. IIRC, there was a brother and sister who died but all the others weren't related.
They've counted 342 balloons that made the mainland out of over 9000 launched. They reached as far east as NE. Some were shot down, other exploded with minor damage. The one in OR was the only casualties. The balloons were big, something like 30' in diameter. They weren't hard to see.
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 31,619 Likes: 4
Campfire 'Bwana
|
|
Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 31,619 Likes: 4 |
Founder
Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison?
And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools,
Being native burghers of this desert city,
Should in their own confines with forked heads
Have their round haunches gored."
WS
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 4,350
Campfire Tracker
|
|
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 4,350 |
It wasn't a family. A minister and his pregnant wife were taking 5 of her teenage Sunday school students on a picnic. They think the wife found the bomb and it exploded killing her and the 5 students. The husband was a distance away and wasn't hurt. IIRC, there was a brother and sister who died but all the others weren't related.
They've counted 342 balloons that made the mainland out of over 9000 launched. They reached as far east as NE. Some were shot down, other exploded with minor damage. The one in OR was the only casualties. The balloons were big, something like 30' in diameter. They weren't hard to see. Correct. I've been to the site. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wired.com/2010/05/0505japanese-balloon-kills-oregon/amp
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 747
Campfire Regular
|
|
Campfire Regular
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 747 |
The original paper-mache hot air balloons were launched I believe in 1943. About(if I remember right) about 3000 of these were released in Japan in hopes that they would 1) start wild fires in the West and 2) help destroy moral. A church group out in Oregon were out for a Sunday picnic and kids saw the bright balloon and it exploded when they grabbed it. Only about 250 of these ever turned up and no others were deadly. OK - now for the fun part - these balloons were weighted with sand bags - if they dipped below a certain altitude, bags would be released to let them rise again to continue their flight. Using the sand from the bags of those that were found, the US Geological Society determined that the sand was from a small 5 mile stretch of beach on Japans shore. They turned the info over to the US Military and they bombed and destroyed the building there making these "hot air" bombs and end of Story. As I have said before I am a retired History teacher and had an Actual news article with all of the details of this story.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 8,764 Likes: 9
Campfire Outfitter
|
|
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 8,764 Likes: 9 |
Fu Go BalloonsHeck, even Wifey heard of these, although she'd forgotten the Dolittle Raid. I never heard the story of tracking the sandbags to the original location, though. 7mm
"Preserving the Constitution, fighting off the nibblers and chippers, even nibblers and chippers with good intentions, was once regarded by conservatives as the first duty of the citizen. It still is." � Wesley Pruden
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 31,619 Likes: 4
Campfire 'Bwana
|
|
Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 31,619 Likes: 4 |
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/555th_Parachute_Infantry_Battalion_(United_States)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/555th_Parachute_Infantry_Battalion_(United_States)
These were the fellas that were going to fight the fires.
Last edited by kaywoodie; 04/14/19.
Founder
Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison?
And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools,
Being native burghers of this desert city,
Should in their own confines with forked heads
Have their round haunches gored."
WS
|
|
|
|
|
531 members (1beaver_shooter, 1Akshooter, 10Glocks, 222Sako, 01Foreman400, 21, 57 invisible),
2,465
guests, and
1,212
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
Forums81
Topics1,192,454
Posts18,489,688
Members73,972
| |
Most Online11,491
Jul 7th, 2023
|
|
|
|
