I recently read "Land In Common," a history of Jackson County. It mentions that during World War II two Japanese balloon bombs landed within the Medford city limits, one exploding on Peach Street. Can you be more specific? Where on Peach Street? Did the second bomb explode and, if so, where?

-- George F., Medford

We dug deep into our morgue and consulted an expert on Japanese balloon bombs for this one, George.

The balloon bomb landed on property at 1702 S. Peach St., owned by orchardist Oliver Tice, according to an Aug. 16, 1945 article in the Mail Tribune.

The bomb landed early in January of that year, but the news was voluntarily censored by the newspaper until the end of the war. All who knew of the bomb's landing were sworn to secrecy, the article said.

The balloon itself apparently blew up at a low altitude, but the bomb dropped without exploding. No one was hurt. An Army bomb removal squad took the bomb to San Francisco, where it was studied.

Although the book refers to two bombs landing in the city, there was only one, according to Bert Webber of Central Point, author of "Silent Siege III: Japanese Attacks on North America in World War II."

Additional bomb fragments were found in the vicinity three days later, but the fragments were part of the Peach Street incident, Webber says.

"All the evidence indicates the fragments were from the one balloon," he says. "There was only one bomb in Medford."

All told, there were 45 balloon attacks by the Japanese against the U.S., including one near Bly, about 80 miles east of Klamath Falls, in which six people were killed, Webber notes.

"But Medford is the only city in the continental United States bombed by the Japanese during World War II," he says.

(Send your questions to "Since You Asked," Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; or by fax to (541) 776-4376; or by e-mail to: youasked@mailtribune.com