A Bit of WWII Trivia

[Alk8944]

On April 18, 1945, a Japanese balloon bomb – one of thousands released toward the U.S. – exploded over Dundee at the intersection of 50th and Underwood. "

Dundee is a neighborhood, formerly a suburb, of Omaha, Nebraska.

In three days it will be the 78th anniversary of this event. I am currently in my 78th year!

Thus begins an interesting story of a neighborhood I lived in during the 1950s. If you are not familiar with the Balloon bombs launched by the Japanese during WWII that ended up exploding in and over several states during 1945 you should "Google" the subject. Yes, the U.S. was directly attacked by Japan during the war. Several people were killed in Washington State by one of the bombs. There were several sites around the state of Nebraska where some of these bombs fell, but only this one over a densely populated area. To my knowledge no damage was caused by any of them in Nebraska

A synopsis. In early 1945 Japan had developed balloons capable of reaching the U S by following the jet stream. These carrier several relative low yield bombs each and several did explode within U S states as far east as Indiana as I recall.

The bomb I am directly interested in was the one mentioned at the beginning of this post. At the time of this occurrence I was in my 1st year, but within 10 years I was living in a house less than 200 feet from where the bomb exploded, thus my interest! Several years ago a plaque commemorating this event was placed on the face of the building on the SW corner of the intersection mentioned. Until a few years ago the building was the Baum Rexall Pharmacy, as it was when I lived there.

I hope this is of interest to many of you and arouses an interest in researching some of the obscure history that may have occurred in your home town.

 

[ameridaddy]

Interesting - an early example of an explosion from nowhere, a terrorist bombing, to the people on scene.
Is this your drugstore? I love the old building - it has texture, color, details, depth, lots of eye candy.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

In addition to bombs the Japanese sent thousands of balloons with incendiaries into the Pacific Northwest. The intent was to ignite large forest fires in order to disrupt the economy and transportation while also diverting resources from the war effort.

 

[Alk8944]

Is this your drugstore? I love the old building - it has texture, color, details, depth, lots of eye candy.

Yes it is. If you look at the pillar directly behind the clock, you will see the plaque commemorating the event. Yes, it is a beautiful building. They had the last soda fountain in Omaha. The photo (street view?) was from the parking lot of the Hinky Dinky grocery store across the street. The house I lived in was purchased by the corporation to extend the parking lot for this store. It was a beautiful 3 story, yellow glazed brick house, and I loved it. We were renting the first floor. Those were far better days than we live in now.

We had to move in the summer of 1958 because the house was to be demolished. I met my true love in December two years later when she was 14. I lost her 3 1/2 years ago this March 13 due to a cancer. She was just 22 days away from her 72nd birthday. Reminiscing about Omaha and my youth there is extremely painful because of her death.

 

[smoothshooter]

On April 18, 1945, a Japanese balloon bomb – one of thousands released toward the U.S. – exploded over Dundee at the intersection of 50th and Underwood. "


In three days it will be the 78th anniversary of this event. I am currently in my 78th year!

Thus begins an interesting story of a neighborhood I lived in during the 1950s. If you are not familiar with the Balloon bombs launched by the Japanese during WWII that ended up exploding in and over several states during 1945 you should "Google" the subject. Yes, the U.S. was directly attacked by Japan during the war. Several people were killed in Washington State by one of the bombs. There were several sites around the state of Nebraska where some of these bombs fell, but only this one over a densely populated area. To my knowledge no damage was caused by any of them in Nebraska

A synopsis. In early 1945 Japan had developed balloons capable of reaching the U S by following the jet stream. These carrier several relative low yield bombs each and several did explode within U S states as far east as Indiana as I recall.

The bomb I am directly interested in was the one mentioned at the beginning of this post. At the time of this occurrence I was in my 1st year, but within 10 years I was living in a house less than 200 feet from where the bomb exploded, thus my interest! Several years ago a plaque commemorating this event was placed on the face of the building on the SW corner of the intersection mentioned. Until a few years ago the building was the Baum Rexall Pharmacy, as it was when I lived there.

I hope this is of interest to many of you and arouses an interest in researching some of the obscure history that may have occurred in your home town.

What state is Dundee in?

 

[Alk8944]

In addition to bombs the Japanese sent thousands of balloons with incendiaries into the Pacific Northwest. The intent was to ignite large forest fires in order to disrupt the economy and transportation while also diverting resources from the war effort.

Lobo,

That was all one operation. The bombs were incendiary, but contained explosives, probably intended to break up timber to make the incendiaries more efficient in starting fires. Fortunately it didn't work, I am not aware of any large fires being started anywhere in the US, or any real damage except the few people killed in Washington state. They were a church group on a picnic in the woods on Sunday afternoon. One of the children found one of the bombs and it exploded when he? disturbed it.

 

[Alk8944]

What state is Dundee in?

I have added a remark clarifying that in the original post. Funny because ameridaddy didn't have a problem finding the location. He attached a screen shot of the location of the plaque that he apparently googled from Google Earth.

 

[two-bit cowboy]

Thanks for sharing the story.

Anytime I'm in Omaha I visit the Dundee Dell, very near the intersection where the bomb exploded. The Dell has, perhaps, the finest selection of single malt scotch whisky outside Scotland -- more than 800 expressions last time I was there.

Wish I'd have known to go see the plaque. I know now.

 

[fordson]

Yes it is. If you look at the pillar directly behind the clock, you will see the plaque commemorating the event. Yes, it is a beautiful building. They had the last soda fountain in Omaha. The photo (street view?) was from the parking lot of the Hinky Dinky grocery store across the street. The house I lived in was purchased by the corporation to extend the parking lot for this store. It was a beautiful 3 story, yellow glazed brick house, and I loved it. We were renting the first floor. Those were far better days than we live in now.

We had to move in the summer of 1958 because the house was to be demolished. I met my true love in December two years later when she was 14. I lost her 3 1/2 years ago this March 13 due to a cancer. She was just 22 days away from her 72nd birthday. Reminiscing about Omaha and my youth there is extremely painful because of her death.

I can sympathize with you. God bless.

 

[fordson]

On April 18, 1945, a Japanese balloon bomb – one of thousands released toward the U.S. – exploded over Dundee at the intersection of 50th and Underwood. "

Dundee is a neighborhood, formerly a suburb, of Omaha, Nebraska.

In three days it will be the 78th anniversary of this event. I am currently in my 78th year!

Thus begins an interesting story of a neighborhood I lived in during the 1950s. If you are not familiar with the Balloon bombs launched by the Japanese during WWII that ended up exploding in and over several states during 1945 you should "Google" the subject. Yes, the U.S. was directly attacked by Japan during the war. Several people were killed in Washington State by one of the bombs. There were several sites around the state of Nebraska where some of these bombs fell, but only this one over a densely populated area. To my knowledge no damage was caused by any of them in Nebraska

A synopsis. In early 1945 Japan had developed balloons capable of reaching the U S by following the jet stream. These carrier several relative low yield bombs each and several did explode within U S states as far east as Indiana as I recall.

The bomb I am directly interested in was the one mentioned at the beginning of this post. At the time of this occurrence I was in my 1st year, but within 10 years I was living in a house less than 200 feet from where the bomb exploded, thus my interest! Several years ago a plaque commemorating this event was placed on the face of the building on the SW corner of the intersection mentioned. Until a few years ago the building was the Baum Rexall Pharmacy, as it was when I lived there.

I hope this is of interest to many of you and arouses an interest in researching some of the obscure history that may have occurred in your home town.

Thanks for sharing this piece of history. I was aware of these “ballon bombs” drifting over the PNW, but wasn’t aware that they made all the way to Omaha.

 

[lihpster]

Just FYI, the six people killed were in Oregon, not Washington.

 

[SMSgt]

Today CNN would be blabbing it 24/7 before the dust settled.

 

[Alk8944]

Let's close this by furnishing the following list. Per a Wikipedia article some of the Japanese incendiary bombs were eventually located in all the following states and provinces: "The balloons continued to be discovered across North America, with sightings and partial or full recoveries in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan (where an incendiary bomb was found at Farmington in the easternmost incident), Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming; in Canada in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest and Yukon Territories".

A total of 19 States, 4 Provinces and 2 Territories, with obviously the possibility there were others where no remains had been found.

This is far wider distribution than I ever expected! I expect if you click on any of the parsed links it will give more information on each states experience. I just checked. The links only take you to the states Wiki pages.


Since I have given Wikipedia credit I am assuming this is okay based on the "Fair Use" doctrine.

 

[Alk8944]

Well, I give up! I "Googled" stories on several states and found accounts of sightings only or they included reports of adjoining states but no specific numbers. Montana appeared to have 31-32 reports of bombs going off, Nebraska, Utah Michigan, Idaho about 5 each, Iowa 1-2. I did find reports that the total Japanese program launched 9,000-9,300 total balloons depending on the report. Of these some 284 to est. 300 actually landed within CONUS, with several being shot down in the vicinity of Alaska and Hawaii. I'm satisfied! There were a bunch with little to no effect. The last report of a found balloon bomb was from British Columbia in 2014!

 

[Tom Kent]

If you read the unit history of the 555th airborne in WWII (a black outfit in the segregated army of that time) you will find an account of the unit being airlifted to the PNW and parachuted into a fire zone to help fight a forest fire. The members of the unit felt it was to keep them from being sent to Europe to fight. Several years later they found out that they were fighting a fire set by a Japanese balloon bomb. Sounds familiar dosen't it?