The Balloon Bombs That Crossed the Pacific

Between November 1944 and April 1945, Japan launched approximately 9,300 'fire balloons' — paper hot-air balloons carrying incendiary and anti-personnel bombs — across the Pacific on jet streams toward North America. The first intercontinental weapon delivery system in history. Over 1,000 reached the continent, with confirmed sightings from Alaska to Michigan to Mexico. The U.S. government imposed strict press censorship on balloon incidents to deny Japan feedback about their effectiveness. Only one attack caused casualties: on May 5, 1945, a pregnant woman (Elsie Mitchell) and five Sunday school children were killed near Bly, Oregon, when they discovered a crashed balloon and its unexploded bomb went off. These remain the only American deaths on U.S. soil directly caused by enemy action during WWII.