Advertisement

Lakeview, OR - Was Attacked by Japan

This might come as a surprise to some, but the attack on Pearl Harbor wasn't the only time the Japanese attacked American soil. It was what drew the U.S. into the war, but a balloon attack was launched by Japan shortly after the Doolittle raid on Tokyo. The Japanese launched some 9,000 balloons packed with explosives and hoped that they would drift towards the continental U.S. Around 1,000 eventually reached the country.

Wikimedia Commons

Some were found as far away as Michigan, but only one managed to take any lives. A balloon that landed in Lakeview, Oregon, killed a woman named Elyse Mitchell and her five children. Today, travelers can visit a memorial marking the spot of the only U.S. casualties to be killed on American soil after the war started.