Question: In what Texas towns did Japanese balloon bombs land during World War II?
Answer: Desdemona and Woodson. Beginning in November 1944, the Japanese launched thousands of hydrogen-filled paper balloons equipped with incendiary and antipersonnel bombs, about 360 of which were carried across the Pacific Ocean in the jet stream and landed in North America. They were intended to start wildfires and induce panic, but a media blackout prevented the Japanese from learning of their failure until six people were killed by one discovered by children in Oregon.
The balloons were about 30 feet in diameter and 70 to 80 feet in height. One of them landed in Desdemona on March 23, 1945, and another was discovered in Woodson the following day.
