82 years years ago, on March 21, 1944, the United States Army sent a B-17 Flying Fortress loaded with with 250 pound demolition bombs to drop with the mission of saving Miles City, Montana. The rescue operation didn’t involve repelling foreign invaders, despite the fact that the operation took place at the height of World War II. The bomber crew was sent to break up ice jams on the Missouri River, which were backing up the flow of water and causing flooding in the region including Miles City.
According to the National Weather Service, Montana has the highest number of ice jams and ice jam-related deaths in the lower 48 states. An ice jam is a pile of broken river ice that blocks the normal flow of water. The river around Miles City is particularly susceptible to jams because it’s the point where the Yellowstone and Tongue Rivers meet, which means that the ice can pile up from both sources. It is also a slower point in the flow of the Yellowstone, particularly near Miles City. The river there is shallower and wider, which makes it far easier for the ice to simply pile up and block the forward flow of water. There are also bridges, bends, and bedrock shelves that create choke points for ice. This combination of factors, paired with fluctuating Montana weather, creates the perfect storm for ice jams. Miles City has experienced several major floods since its founding due to these river conditions.
The winter of 1944-1942 was an unusually harsh one. Between long stretches of extreme cold and recurring, severe blizzards, the ice jam that developed at Miles City over the weekend of March 17-18 was severe. Flooding set in over the weekend and forced the evacuation of around 500 residents by Sunday evening. According to an article in the Missoula Current at the time, the Yellowstone rose 19.3 feet, which is 3.3 feet above flood level and 15 feet higher than what was typical for that time of year. The water level rise was so high that it forced ice floes over the 12 Mile Dam, south of Miles City, exacerbating the flooding issues.
On March 20th, the mayor of Miles City, Leighton Keye, recruited several local pilots to bombard the Yellowstone with homemade explosive devices. Piper Cubs dropped more than 1,500 pounds of dynamite on the ice jams, but the surface level detonations made little impact.
Keye then reached out to the Governor of Montana, Sam Ford. The request was simple and unusual: “Send in the bombers.” What followed was the only domestic bombing mission of WW II. According to a 2009 article on the incident, Major Ezzard received the call with orders to bomb the Yellowstone River at 9 AM on the 21st. The B-17 Flying Fortress took off from Rapid City Army Air Base. The bomber flew through blizzard conditions throughout their trip to Miles City, and the pilot later described extended periods of white out conditions that forced them to fly by instruments only.
The crew was given orders to use their own judgement as to whether or not they would bomb the river or abandon the mission. The operation mainly consisted of 3 bomb runs beginning at 7:30 PM. The first involved dropping a single 250 pound bomb down river as a test. Afterwards, the B-17 conducted 2 additional runs over the Yellowstone River along the 5-mile ice jam. 6 bombs were dropped on each run, with the bombs set to detonate underwater. These particular pieces of ordinance were specifically designed for demolition, and thus, far more effective than the homemade dynamite bombs dropped by the Piper Cubs days earlier. Each explosion threw columns of mud, water, and ice 150 feet into the air with a loud report.
Very quickly afterwards, the ice jam began to break up and the river resumed its regular flow. Within 24 hours, flood levels dropped 10 feet.
Major Ezzard was promoted to Lt. Colonel 10 days later. He considered the bombing of the Yellowstone River to be the highlight of his 27-year military career.