Bellevue, Texas A nervous homeowner called the Clay County Sheriff's office to report an artillery shell in his front yard. The munition item reportedly came from the homeowner's brother-in-law who found the item while "rummaging through house that had burned in a wildfire the week prior". The man who found the item apparently thought it was a replica munition and decided to show it to his brother-in-law. How the item ended up in the burned out house in the first place and why the man decided to transport it instead of calling the police is unknown.

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Lincolnshire, United Kingdom a dredger working approximately four miles from the shore near Huttoft Beach dredged up two unexploded bombs from the seabed. The crew of the ship called the local police who dispatched a life boat crew for support. A Royal Navy EOD Team from Portsmouth was also dispatched to the scene to provide technical support.

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South Charleston, West Virginia A former headquarters building for Union Carbide was demolished under a controlled detonation operation as part of the development by plans for the University of Charleston. Demolition crews from O'Rourke Wrecking, the contractor in charge of the demolition project, set up explosive charges around various sections of the old building known as building 82 as part of the demolition project.

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Donated Mine Detectors Bound for Darfur

A shipment of thirty mine detectors will soon be in the hands of United Nations humanitarian deminers in the Darfur region of Sudan.

The instruments have been donated by church groups, trade associations, individuals and customers of Schonstedt Instrument Company, which manufactures the demining tools and coordinates distribution to the world's most mine-infested countries.

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Centreville, Alabama A road construction company working on a bridge noticed a cache of weapons in a shallow creek in Bibb County. The workers called the police who responded with ATF agents. Authorities removed the weapons collection, which included WWII era weapons from Japan, Italy and Germany. Included in the collection was a 50mm mortar, a 20mm cannon, two belt-fed machine guns and a Thompson machine gun. Nine weapons were found in all. Most were in great condition with no rust. No ammunition was recovered. Authorities suspect that the weapons collection was stolen and then subsequently thrown into the creek. No one has claimed the collection yet which is valued at over $20,000.

Afghanistan Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers, a 30-year old EOD Airman from the 48th Civil Engineering Squadron EOD Flight was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan's Helmand province. His wife, a son and a daughter, his parents, and his brother survive the 10-year Air Force veteran. Philip was a dedicated Air Force EOD Airman who received numerous awards in his career including being recognized as the Air Force Civil Engineering Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year award last year. At a memorial ceremony held for the fallen hero at RAF Lakenheath, England, he was posthumously promoted to Technical Sergeant. Phillip will surely be missed by friends, family and the entire EOD community.

Dayton, Ohio The Air Force announced plans to build a new EOD range at Wright-Patterson AFB to support increased training needs associated with IED response training. EOD currently trains in a small wooded area of the base with low amounts of explosives. The new EOD range would have a net explosive weight limit of 5 lbs and include a 6-foot tall concrete barrier with a 500 foot exclusion zone and a surrounding fence for security purposes. The range would also be used for disposal purposes for ordnance or explosive recovered within or near the installation. The 88th Air Base Wing, which operates the base, anticipates that the new EOD range once built would be used three days per week to support as many as eight detonations per day after EOD expands to 17 members from the current 12 person unit.

Portsmouth, United Kingdom Researchers conducting archival research on Fort Blockhouse discovered a detailed set of defense plans for the fort from WWII. The fort sits on a peninsula on Gosport Point in the town of Portsmouth and has a rich military history that dates back to 14th Century. The WII defensive plans uncovered called for 2,000 lbs of explosives to be buried under the roadway leading to the fort. In the event the fort was under attack from the Germans and was under the threat of being overrun, the plan called for the explosives to be detonated thereby separating the fort from the mainland.

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Darwin, Australia Construction workers surveying an area near a busy road for an upcoming roadway expansion project discovered two artillery shells. The rounds were found near the ground surface just a few short meters from the heavily traveled roadway. The construction workers called the local police who responded with support from a Bomb Disposal Team. The items were identified as WWII era rounds (specific size and type not reported). The rounds were reportedly severely corroded and rusted. The Bomb Disposal Team performed an on-site open detonation procedure to dispose of the UXO. The area had been bombed during the war and UXO finds are not uncommon to the city.

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida a civilian walking along the beach found a barnacle covered object that he thought looked suspicious. The man called the St. Johns County Sheriffs office who responded with support from a police Bomb Squad Unit. The Bomb Squad suspected that the item was a WII era depth charge therefore a Navy EOD team was called in for additional support.

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