MAY 5, 1945: Japanese balloon bomb kills 6 in Oregon

Yeah, the were many balloon bombs, but most ended up in the desert or off shore. Wasn't publicized during the war to keep people from panicing.

As if they didn’t suck enough already, maybe their ancestors helped launch the balloons.

Yes there were German boats in gulf and even rumored to be in Mississippi rive below New Orleans

I find it almost shocking that they would be found in the Mississippi. With dredging that goes on now, the depth sits at about 200 feet. Add a little since they probably didn't dredge then, and what the U-boat would have to sit at to stay submerged, that would give about 50-75 feet of play room before they ran aground. Couple the depth with the current, and I don't see that being factual. However, if they did indeed enter the Mississippi, that was one hell of a bridge team to make it in and out unscathed. I whole heartedly believe they would've stayed at the mouth and patrolled in the Gulf, not enter

IIRC, there was at least one balloon bomb that made it as far inland as Michigan, but didn't explode.

Jap submarines shelled Fort Stevens, Oregon and an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California. A Japanese plane launched from a submarine dropped incendiary bombs in the forests of Oregon in an attempt to start fires.

The Germans were not quite as brazen. Fires from burning vessels attacked by U-boats in the Atlantic and Gulf could be seen from shore at night. One U-boat tried to enter the Mississippi River but failed. Some other U-boats were sunk in the Gulf by patrol aircraft.

Here is a picture of New York City taken in 1942 through the periscope of a German U-boat:


A couple of articles about U-166, sunk in the Gulf off of the coast of Louisiana:
Wikipedia
WGNO

Wiki article on the shelling of Fort Stevens:
LINK

and the oil refinery in California:
LINK

My grandmother (no pics) grew up near the Oregon coast during World War II. Though the idea of a Japanese invasion of the west coast seems silly now, it didn't seem silly to west coast residents in early 1942. She had five older brothers. They, along with my great-grandfather, had made plans and preparations to head up to the mountains and resist if the Japanese did invade, Wolverines-style. She remembers the blackouts at night, and the air raid drills at school. The brothers all ended up enlisting in various military branches and served overseas during the war.

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And no U-Boat commander would have risked getting into that kind of a trap when the whole point of his mission could be fulfilled by waiting offshore for the vessels to exit the Mouth of the River and then he could attack them there.

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Exactly. Why would a U-boat commander limit his ability to maneuver when he could just sit in wait at the mouth and attack on much more favorable terms.

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 U-166

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A guy I went to LSU with was obsessed with this. He wanted to find it so bad. He never did, obviously, but he did go into underwater salvage/archaeology.

What even crazier is that, out of the almost 100k square miles that Oregon consists of, those unlucky souls had to be where a balloon bomb was at the same time.

Even if 9k were released, the odds are still in your favor to not die.

Som' som' destiny som' som' if it's your time to go, it's your time to go.

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accompanied by 1,000 folded paper cranes, a Japanese symbol of peace and healing.

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Yeah, all the paper cranes in the world won't bring back these folks, nor will it bring back the servicemen killed during the Pearl Harbor sneak attack or subsequently. Paper cranes didn't help the Chinese in Nan King... yeah, Paper Cranes. They're more useful as toilet paper.