operation firefly / from the 92nd infantry buffalo soldiers

[tom d. friedman]

of course we all know of the ugly segregated military standard of ww2, but some black soldiers were singled out to become the 1st military's, let alone civilian "fire jumpers" chuting out over vast forests in the western u.s. thanks to Japanese incendiary balloon bombs that floated here via the unknown jet stream as we know it today. the Japanese knew of it, but not the u.s., infact when b-29s were 1st introduced in combat the jet stream wind conditions didn't exactly put any pluses in the b-29's positive category, & was quite a shock to aaf brass. the 92nd infantry, aka the "buffalo soldiers" served since ww1. the black soldier was relegated to menial duty as cooks, guards, drivers, etc, up to the end of ww2 for the most part. walter morris, observed parachute training, was called on the carpet by the c.o., & asked what he was doing. long story short he was instrumental in forming the 1st black airborne troops, & they jumped from aircraft to combat fires set by the Japanese balloon bombs. they were the 555th. it was top secret. the pentagon didn't want to alarm the u.s. population of thousands of these bombs floating into the u.s. most successful balloons ignited forest fires in the pacific northwest, but 1 went as far as Michigan. the all black smoke jumpers disarmed & extinguished 36 fire locations, & made over 1200 jumps. the tuskegee airmen have some glory & bravery to share!! cool story!!

[StangStung]

This is a great story. Do you have any sources or links?

[Forgotten Field]

The 555th Parachute Infantry Company was then turned into the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/555th_Para ... ted_States)

One of my instructors in Jump School was the son of an original 555th member.

[The Inspector]

Keep in mind that there are no truly accurate kept records of how any of these balloon bombers were launched and after they left the Japanese coast the interest in them (other than waiting to hear news reports of mysterious explosions in the U.S. which never were made public until after the war)dropped way off. So be aware that there COULD be a 70 year old mega bomb laying out there in the Northern woods just waiting for you to walk past and sneeze.
It was enough of a threat that at least 2 P-61's were sent to Paine AAFB in Everett as potential interceptors, one of them crashed within 3 miles of the field but I can't dig up any info on it's crash or crash site.
TICK----TICK---Creak--TICK--

[RickH]

A school age kid was killed when he stumbled across one of the bombs on the forest floor. I believe his death was during the war.

The first segregated combat black troops were several units formed during the Civil War. The post Civil War black combat troops were the 9th and 10th Cavalry. They recd substandard condemned equipment, including worn out Spencer carbines and worn out horses. They performed admirably in West Texas and Southern Arizona, finally subduing the Apaches and Comanches. Those soldiers were the first Buffalo Soldiers. Army high command bigotry was rampant in the early part of the 20th Century and black troops were slowly relegated to a menial support role.

[Forgotten Field]

There were six killed in one explosion:

http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010 ... ls-oregon/

I was talking with a guy from California about a year ago, and mentioned about my L-5 project (which may have been part of the Firefly project) and the Firefly project. The school teacher killed was his mother's sister. Small world.

[JohnB]

There is a great deal of literature on line and books about the balloon bombs...but I don't think I've never heard of the Buffalo Soldiers response.

Fascinating stuff, especially in this part of the country.

In grad school I did some research on the press blackout...