Military Mortar Found in Near WWI Training Facility

San Diego, California San Diego Gas and Electric technicians discovered a 3-inch mortar shell while working near a power substation in Tierrasanta. Police responded and then called in the Metro Arson Strike Team who then summoned experts from the Marine Corps to remove the ordnance.

Much of Tierrasanta occupies land that once was the site of Camp Elliott, a 26,000-acre USMC, Navy, and Air Force base from 1940 to 1961. During WWI, some of the same terrain was within Camp Kearny, an Army training facility that eventually gave its name to the surrounding mesa.

UXO discoveries are common in the area. Unfortunately in 1983, two 8-year-old boys died when an artillery shell they found near a trail there exploded. This incident is actually the catalyst for the creation of the Formerly Used Defense Site (FUDS) program.

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