Fu Go

Bly, Oregon and Honshu, Japan

On May 5, 1945, a pregnant woman and her husband from Bly, Oregon took five Sunday school students on a picnic in Freemont National Forest. Elsie Mitchell and the children found a suitable site, while Archie went to park the car.

One of the students noticed a strange lump of fabric on the ground near the campsite and called the others over to have a look at it. Another student walked up to the heap and touched it with his foot.

Two explosions occurred, resulting in six civilian deaths, seven if you count the unborn child.

Shrapnel holes in a tree where the explosion occurred.

I wrote a story about this tragedy in 2020, when we were all locked down with COVID. I hoped that someday I would be able to visit the site and today is that day. Bly Oregon was our destination this morning.

For those of you who missed the 2020 article, this is how it went:

In 1944 during WWII, the Japanese air force launched 9300 hydrogen balloons with firebombs (“Fu-Go”) attached. The balloons were sent aloft from Honshu, Japan into the Pacific jet stream, in the hope that at least 10% of them would make it across the ocean, land in the United States, and ignite. The Japanese hoped to start forest fires and cause civilian panic, at a time when many American firefighters were overseas serving in the military.

Fu-Go was the first intercontinental ballistic weapon.

As many as 1100 of the intercontinental weapons reached North America, just as the Japanese intended.

**Confirmed Fu Go landing sites in North America.**

Fortunately, destruction of property and forests was minimal. The balloons were launched in November and December to take advantage of optimal jet stream drift. Most of North America was snow covered at that time of year so bombs that landed and ignited were largely ineffectual.

A few bombs landed but did not ignite on impact. That factor resulted in the Bly Oregon tragedy; the only American casualties associated with the Fu-Go attack, and the only casualties of WWII on the American mainland.

Monument dedicated to Elsie Mitchell and her students, near Bly, Oregon.

Several Japanese citizens have visited the site. They planted cherry trees as an act of apology, and as a symbol of peace.

Some of the Fu Go balloon bombs landed in Canada.

A live bomb turned up in a forest near Lumley, BC in 2014. It was detonated by a Royal Canadian Navy ordinance disposal team, seventy years after it was deployed by the Japanese.

In October 2019, a hunter came across evidence of an old forest fire near McBride, BC. At the centre of the clearing authorities uncovered the remains of another balloon bomb.

Fu Go Bomb on display at a museum in Rocanville, Saskatchewan.

Photo courtesy Scott Paton.