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Hanford once victim of attackThis story was published Sept. 12, 2001
Hanford has been the victim of a sneak air attack - 56 years ago during World War II. A Japanese explosive-laden balloon hit a power line between Benton City and Grandview on March 10, 1945 - briefly cutting electricity to parts of Hanford. Generators quickly restored any power lost, however. The next day, Hanford received several reports of balloon sightings, but none was found. From November 1944 through April 1945, Japan launched about 6,000 bomb-carrying balloons from the Japanese island of Honshu. Each balloon was about 32 feet in diameter and carried either a 33-pound anti-personnel bomb or a 26-pound incendiary bomb designed to start fires. The balloons were supposed to fly across the Pacific Ocean at 200 to 300 mph in the eastern flowing jet stream at an altitude of 30,000 feet. Less than 300 balloons made it to the United States and Canada. They ended up as far south as California, as far north as the Arctic Circle in Canada, and as far east as Michigan. The balloons started a few forest fires in the Northwest. The only casualties were six people killed by one balloon bomb near Medford, Ore. A minister, his wife and five Sunday school children had gone on a picnic on May 5, 1945. While the minister parked the car, one boy found a Fugo balloon with its bomb attached. Not knowing what it was, he dragged the balloon to the picnic site, where the bomb exploded, killing all five children and the minister's wife. | |