I’m not usually a big fan of “this day in history” type posts, but it should be noted that on this day more than 60 years ago, the only civilian casualty on American soil of WWII happened right here in ol’ Oregon. According to the History Channel’s History.com:
In Lakeview, Oregon, Mrs. Elsie Mitchell and five neighborhood children are killed while attempting to drag a Japanese balloon out the woods. Unbeknownst to Mitchell and the children, the balloon was armed, and it exploded soon after they began tampering with it.
The town eventually went on to become a typical small town, from the looks of this 1960s card:
That ultra-modern building in the front left is a US Bank either a public library or post office – and it’s a real beauty. Click here for a huge, hi-res version on Vintage Roadside [and for many other fantastic roadside photos and postcards].
Here’s a current view of the downtown. Any Lakeview residents want to chime in?
Lost Oregon 
5 replies on “May 5, 1945”
a documentary about this was made by a woman in oregon: http://onpaperwingsthemovie.com/about.html
Oh, some of those balloons landed in Colorado at the site of the Swetsville Zoo. I’ll show you when you visit maybe.
http://www.edit555.com/clippings/12-02-2001.htm
Interesting bit of history that I have never known about.
I remember my father telling about this…he had a penchant for flinging out historic, geological or poetic ramblings as we drove the countryside (usually Oregon as that’s where we lived).
Idyllic memories…
The pink building past the US Bank in the postcard was a restaurant/bar called
Indian Village, which is closed for a few years now.