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Show UTAH SHERIFF GROUNDS JAP BALLOON The story of a Utah sheriffs ride on a bomb-carrying Japanese balloon is told for the first time in the August issue of Coronet magazine. Sheriff Warren W. Hyde of Brigham City was hero of the strange adventure. His ride on the balloon and subsequent capture cap-ture of it greatly aided the United States in its battle to stop the deadly barrage from Japan during World War II, according to Coronet. Coro-net. The Japanese started their desperate des-perate attempt to start forest fires and damage U. S. cities and installations in-stallations in 1945. Their huge balloons carried incendiary and detonation bombs. Hundreds of the balloons reached the United States. Some persons were killed, although censorship kept this fact secret for a long time, Coronot reports. The government made an earnest ear-nest plea to western peace officers to capture, if possible, a balloon intact. Sheriff Hyde was called to a farm in northern Utah one morning morn-ing by a rancher who reported a balloon had landed on his place. Hyde hurried to the ranch. Just as he arrived, the balloon its gas warmed by the early sun started to float away. He chased it and finall caught it. But as Sheriff Hyde grabbed the undercarriage of the balloon, it soared into the air. The balloon dragged Hyde back and forth across the deep ravine, Coronet magazine says. Hyde battled the balloon for nearly an hour before tying it down. FBI agents, navy, army and air force experts rushed to the Utah ranch. They deflated the balloon, took it and the bomb-carrying undercarriage away. They pledged Hyde not to mention the incident. Sand used as ballast on the balloon bal-loon enabled the scientists to determine de-termine the points from which they were being launched in Japan. These targets were bombed. The balloon onslaught stopped. Hyde was honored at a secret ceremony in the state capitol by military, state, and FBI officials, but still he was warned to keep silent. The Coronet magazine article, carefully documented by witnesses and by government officials, tells the story for the first time. |
