The Japanese Balloon Bomb Offensive

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One of the best kept secrets of the war involved the Japanese balloon bomb offensive. Japan launched approximately 9,000 balloon bombs during a five-month period to be carried by high-altitude winds more than 6,000 miles across the Pacific to North America. Maybe 1,000 of these reached the continent, and only 300 have ever been located.

The balloons, made of paper or rubberized silk, carried antipersonnel and incendiary bombs and were called Fu-Go bombs. Fu-Go bombs utterly failed to terrorize American citizens because no one knew what they were or from whence they came. Nonetheless, the incendiaries carried by the balloons did pose a threat to northwestern U.S. forests during dry months. And they could have offered a vehicle for germ warfare if the Japanese had decided to employ this weapon. Because Japanese men had already been overwhelmingly pressed into military service, Japan recruited school children to build the balloon bombs. Many students had no idea what they were building.

The first operational launches took place on November 3, 1944, and two days later a U.S. Navy patrol boat spotted a balloon floating on the water off the coast of California. Most were reported in the northwest United States, but some balloons traveled as far east as Michigan. The balloon attacks began after U.S. air defense facilities had been deactivated. To counter the threat, U.S. Army Air Forces and Navy fighters flew intercept missions to shoot down balloons when sighted. Army and air force personnel and aircraft were also stationed at critical points to combat any forest fires that might occur. In addition, supplies of decontamination chemicals and sprays to counter any possible use of germ warfare were quietly distributed in the western United States. Before detailed air force defensive plans had been implemented, the attacks ceased.

American geologists who analyzed the balloon’s sandbags determined that the sand came from the Japanese coastline and concluded that the balloons had come from Japan. Once American intelligence learned where the balloons came from, it tried to suppress reports of unexploded bombs to deny the Japanese of any knowledge of the balloons’ success in reaching U.S. soil. The authorities also wanted to avoid causing a panic. Discouraged by the apparent failure of their effort, the Japanese halted their balloon attacks in April 1945.

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A large percentage of FuGo bombs landed in the state of Oregon. On May 5, 1945, Elsie Mitchell and five children were killed when they discovered a large balloon on the ground near Bly, Oregon. When the kids approached the balloon, the bomb exploded and killed them instantly. Mrs. Mitchell’s husband, a minister, had been parking the car when the bomb exploded and was spared. The Mitchells were taking local children on a fishing trip. Bomb experts later suggested that one of the kids had probably kicked the bomb and set off the explosion. Elsie was pregnant at her death. After this, the U.S. government publicized the balloon bombs to warn people not to tamper with them. These were the only known fatalities occurring on the U.S. mainland during the war as a direct result of enemy action. On August 20, 1950, the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, which owned the land where the deaths occurred, dedicated a memorial to the six who perished. The monument displays a plaque bearing the names of the victims and is the pivotal attraction of what has become the Mitchell Recreation Area. 

During a visit to Japan, Yuzuru John Takeshita, a former U.S. internment camp prisoner, learned about Japanese children working in a factory to make paper balloon bombs. His curiosity led him to the story of the deaths in Oregon. After visiting the monument to the victims, he remarked to a reporter from the San Francisco Examiner in 1987, “I saw these names and it shook me. My daughter was about the age of some of the victims.” So moved was Takeshita that he contacted former Japanese students who made the balloons and informed them about the fatalities in Bly. Moved by compassion, the former students asked Takeshita to deliver 1,000 paper cranes, the Japanese symbol of healing, to the families of the victims. In addition, six cherry trees were also delivered to Bly with their condolences. The trees were planted at a ceremony in 1995.

One reason that knowledge of the balloon bombs wasn’t widespread has to do with a news story that preoccupied the headlines: Adolf Hitler’s suicide. Balloon bombs couldn’t compete with that.