Parachute flares used for illumination of night maneuvers or artillery practice. The one witness even saw the smoke trail of the flare. If there are multiples together the smoke trails are easy to see, if you’ve got binocs you can see the parachute the flare hangs from reflecting light from the flare. This is typical nighttime stuff over a Marine base, saw lots of this at LeJeune when I was a kid back in the 60’s.
They burn a bright golden orange color.
These people live near Pendelton and they’ve never seen an illumination flare before?
See post #3