The picnickers eventually arrived at Leonard Creek, where they intended to lunch.
It looks like some kind of balloon.
Archie Mitchells wife, Elise, and the children ran to see what had been found.
These were the only people killed by enemy attack on American soil in the Second World War.
A tree snags a balloon bomb in Kansas on Feb. 23, 1945.
A bomb disposal expert later guessed that the bomb had been kicked.
So the Japanese devised a new way of attacking the enemy.
Over a five month period ending in April 1945, the Japanese launched over 9,000 fire balloons.
Each hydrogen-filled balloon was up to 10 meters wide and carried several hundred pounds of incendiary and high-explosives.
For three days the balloons drifted across the Pacific riding the high altitude jet streams.
Some 2,700 troops were stationed at critical points along the Pacific coastal forests with fire-fighting equipment.
A balloon bomb ‘chandelier’ is displayed at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
In the beginning nobody believed that the balloons could have come directly from Japan.
Aerial reconnaissance soon found what there looking fortwo hydrogen production plants nearby, which were immediately destroyed by bombing.
They also didnt want the American public to panic.
Besides, with two of the key hydrogen plants now gone, General Kusaba ordered the operation to cease.
Today there is a small picnic area at the site where the fire balloon exploded killing six people.
A stone monument with a bronze plaque lists the name of and ages of the victims.
Adjacent to the monument is a ponderosa pine still bearing scars from the explosion.
The monument at Mitchell Recreation Area.
