Bly in WW2 History | World War II Database

5 May 1945

United States

A minister from Bly, Oregon, United States, his pregnant wife, and five children from their Sunday School class ages 11 to 14 traveled to Gearhart Mountain a short distance east of Bly for an outing. As the minister was parking his car, his wife called to him that the children had found something. Almost instantly, a bomb exploded killing all six onlookers. Analysis revealed they were killed by a Japanese 15kg anti-personnel bomb from a Fu-Go balloon. These six fatalities were the only Americans killed by enemy action in the continental US during World War II. This incident also led to the lifting of the press blackout concerning the balloon bombs and prompted a well-publicized educational effort to warn people about the hazards of handling Japanese balloons or their components. ww2dbase [Japanese Attacks on the Continental United States | Fu-Go | Bly, Oregon | DS]

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis

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