Editing Fu-Go balloon bomb (section)

== Single lethal attack ==
[[File:Mitchell Monument, Bly, Oregon (6149865447).jpg|thumb|right|[[Mitchell Monument]] in 2011]]

On May 5, 1945, six civilians were killed near [[Bly, Oregon]], when they discovered one of the balloon bombs in [[Fremont National Forest]], becoming the only fatalities from Axis action in the continental U.S. during the war.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brendan |first=Coyle| author-link = Brendan Coyle |year=2013 |title=Enemy offshore! |publisher=Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd |location=Vancouver |page=128 |isbn=978-1-927527-53-5}}</ref><ref name=NRHP/> Reverend [[Archie E. Mitchell|Archie Mitchell]] and his pregnant wife Elsie (age 26) drove up [[Gearhart Mountain Wilderness|Gearhart Mountain]] that day with five of their [[Sunday school]] students for a picnic.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cherry-Red Shrapnel |url=https://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/Bly_Incident_FuGo-1945.htm |website=Check-Six.com |access-date=3 September 2024}}</ref> While Archie was parking the car, Elsie and the children discovered a balloon and carriage, loaded with an anti-personnel bomb, on the ground. A large explosion occurred; the four boys (Edward Engen, 13; Jay Gifford, 13; Dick Patzke, 14; and Sherman Shoemaker, 11) were killed instantly, while Elsie and Joan Patzke (13) died from their wounds shortly afterwards.{{sfn|Coen|2014|pp=1–4}} An Army investigation concluded that the bomb had likely been kicked or dropped, and that it had lain undisturbed for about one month before the incident.<ref name=":0" /> The U.S. press blackout was lifted on May 22 so the public could be warned of the balloon threat.{{sfn|Coen|2014|pp=177–179}}

A memorial, the [[Mitchell Monument]], was built in 1950 at the site of the explosion,{{sfn|Coen|2014|p=205}} and the surrounding Mitchell Recreation Area was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 2003.<ref name=NRHP>{{cite web |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/03000050 |title=Mitchell Recreation Area |date=February 20, 2003 |website=National Register of Historic Places |publisher=National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior |access-date=February 8, 2023 |archive-date=February 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208002848/https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/03000050 |url-status=live }}</ref> A [[ponderosa pine]] near the site bears scars on its trunk from the bomb's shrapnel. In 1987, a group of Japanese women involved in Fu-Go production as schoolgirls delivered [[One thousand origami cranes|1,000 paper cranes]] to the victims' families as a symbol of peace and healing, and six cherry trees were planted at the site on the incident's 50th anniversary in 1995.{{sfn|Coen|2014|p=211}}